Niang, Foyth, Upamecano, Fraser, Coutinho, Lemar, Castrovilli, Gerson

Good morning folks and welcome to some more Tottenham Tittle Tattle where stories are quickly looked at rather than delved into.

Grab yourself a cuppa and take a couple of minutes to digest these each day or whenever they appear, as you know sometimes we go more in depth into a subject and there is always information cropping up that the media aren't aware of.

You never know when you are going to bump into it so visit regularly and use the Click To Tweet buttons to quickly inform your fellow supporters of a new article.They may not have bumped into the blog before.

Love it or hate it, you can at least all talk from an informed perspective.

Right, without further delay, let's get into Tottenham Tittle Tattle for Thursday.

I keep getting asked so I'll answer it again, Spurs are one of the options for M'Baye Niang but he wants to join Olympique Marseille.

Next I have been asked about the future of Argentinian international Juan Foyth. He is set to go to Leeds United on loan next season. Leeds, of course, will expect to be joining Spurs in the Premier League then.

NOT HAPPENING

HAPPENING

I wrote a while ago now that Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser had agreed to join Tottenham over his other suitors when his contract expires on 30th June.

Today it is being reported that he will not sign a contract extension until the end of the season, now that will be after 30th June. We are told this is a huge boost, no it isn't, we already know he's coming.

Comically, it is reported as his trying to "push through" a move to Tottenham, what pushing through is involved in simply waiting and being a free agent to do what he wants when he wants.

The Sun reporter says he is doing it in the "hope" he can sign for Spurs, hope, what hope is there.

He wouldn't be refusing to sign if he didn't have somewhere else he would rather be.

DISCUSSING
The agent of Brazilian international Philippe Coutinho is still trying to find him a club having failed to impress Barcelona after paying stupid money for him that funded Liverpool's improvement.

Newcastle are said to have opened talks. Well that is a waste of time, there isn't a cat in hells chance he'll go there, they have no European football to offer him, let alone UEFA Champions League football.

The issue for Tottenham and Arsenal are wages,both clubs are strapped for cash.

The trouble with a player going to Barcelona is that there are few options for them if they fail. They get such a wage hike that nobody wants to match the wages and pay a transfer fee.

Chelsea are apparently signing everyone so they have been offered him too and Everton have been spoken to as well.

Bayern Munich took him on loan for a season but they don't want to keep him and his agent is struggling to find a club willing to get near his current wages.

The latest is that Spurs have suggested a loan deal with an option to buy if he is a success, if not then not buy. Barcelona want him gone, they are strapped for cash too so they need income.

The Spanish champions want his entire wages covered, which is around £9.99m (€11.23m - AUS$18.21m - US$12.74m) and they want him gone by 30th June..

That equates to £192,184 per week (€253,961 - AUS$350,159 - US$245,094).

As reported before Barcelona are interested in Tanguy Ndombélé, they are also interested in Toby Alderweireld by the way, and Spurs are in the market for swap deals.

Talks are taking place, but getting a decent outcome out of Barcelona isn't easy as they add buyback clauses into all transfers, something Spurs won't entertain.

HIGHLY UNLIKELY
Another option for Spurs is a loan approach for 24-year-old (25 in November) Atlético Madrid winger Thomas Lemar.

Now if you want to listen to the Independent (and I wouldn't advise it) Spurs are considering a loan deal with a £53.54m (€60m - AUS$97.49m - US$68.28m) option-to-buy.

Madrid want to obtain either:

a) 33-year-old (34 in February) PSG forward Edison Cavani who has indicated his next move will be to LaLiga and is out of contract in the summer. 

b) Borussia Dortmund striker Paco Alcácer who will cost up to £35.68m (€40m - AUS$64.96m - US$45.49).

Lemar's value on Transfermarkt is £21.6m (€24.2m - AUS$39.33m - US$27.54m).

By January, Atlético had amortised €28 million of the €70 fee paid in 2018 to Monaco. 

Therefore, they wouldn't make an accounting loss if they received a fee of £37.47m (€42m - AUS$68.27m - US$47.77).

Lemar earns around €6m gross a year in Spain which equates to £102,947 (€115,385 - AUS$187,512 - US$131,261) a week.

Wages are not going to be an issue, he would be nowhere near the price he was but do Spurs need another winger with Ryan Fraser joining for nothing.

WHEN WILL YOU LEARN
The press once again demonstrated why you can't believe what they write.

According to The Times, Spurs "may try to ease the financial burden by offloading players such as Kyle Walker-Peters, Eric Dier, Serge Aurier and Danny Rose".

Pure guesswork as shown by the fact we are negotiating an extension to Eric Dier's contract.

The trouble with reporters is that write what they think and not the facts.

They have no news so they make it up and as in this case, just guess who they would sell. iI's the same reason you see so many articles every window about selling Erik Lamela.

SCOUTING
In Italy we are tracking 23-year-old (24 next February) Italian international (1 cap) Fiorentina central-midfielder Gaetano Castrovilli.

I must stress we are not anywhere near signing him, he is just one of many players on our list, I explained about those in another article recently.

Transfermerkt value him at £18m, he has started 92% of Fiorentina's games, played 86% of the available minutes and has a goal participation score of 15%.

His contract runs until 2024 which causes as issue as it makes his transfer value at its highest.

GERSON
I have long advocated we improve our scouting in South America and look to pick up some bargain where players are cheap.

It makes sense to take a chance on a young player with potential,and develop them. Plenty of players go to Italy and Portugal and are a huge success, shouldn't we find or own roaring success instead of waiting until they are too expensive?

It isn't easy because the Home Office don't want them coming, but couldn't we arrange a tie up with a Portuguese or Italian club who we could loan them from, as long as binding documents are in place for the relationship. 

I'm sure we could guarantee a transfer fee or percentage of transfer fee and how it should be divided when he is sold.

What are the laws for signing a South American and sending them straight out on loan to another country?

There must be ways around the Home Office rules to bring youngsters.

Juan Foyth may not have worked yet but that doesn't mean everyone would fail and we have an Argentinian base at the club.

Anyway, Gerson has already played in Europe so has none of these issues.

Tottenham have been in regular contact with the player's entourage, with an offer now in the pipeline for him. 

Our initial offer will be £16.14m (€18m - AUS$29.51m - US$20.48m) but I hear the request is for double that.

Transfermarkt value him at just £9.9m.

Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund are interested but we are not prepared to pay the asking price so you can cross him off the list of potential signings.

The other factor, is that Gerson himself would rather stay at Flamengo. He has had a resurgence of form back in South American and his Brazilian club do not want to sell him as he is now a key player for them. 

Heis a central midfielder who has started 100% of the time he has been available, played 100% of the minutes but not had a hand in any goals, a goal participation score of 0%.

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