Tottenham Tittle Tattle - 15 pieces of news

Tottenham Tittle Tattle - 15 pieces of news

• Jose Mourinho would be open to a reunion with 31-year-old (32 in December) Manchester United forward (on loan at Inter Milan) Alexis Sánchez at Tottenham report - 90min.
  
  Err, have you seen his wages chaps? Two and a half times Harry Kane's wages. Enough said.

• Spurs are negotiating for 21-year-old (22 next June) AC Milan striker Rafael Leão on a 1-year loan deal with a purchase option at the end of the season. Milan want around £18.25m (€20m - AUS$32.74m - US$22.42m).
  
  Sky Sports Italia pundit and former AC Milan defensive midfielder Massimo Ambrosini says of Leão and Ante Rebić, a former target who Spurs still watch: "Rafael Leão has not yet shown much, he is an interesting player, while Ante Rebić is undoubtedly an important player, but he carries all the weight of the attack on his shoulders."
  
  Leão, a Portugal U-23 international (9 caps, 1 goal, 2 assists) starts 36% of Serie A games, plays 43% of the minutes and has a goal participation figure of 11%. He has scored 3 goals and had 1 assist in 23 games, although that comprises 1,172 minutes, the equivalent of 13.22 full games.
  
  The right-footed forward arrived from French side Lille for £20,7m (€22.66m - AUS$37.11m - US$25.42m) in August last year, having joined them from Sporting.
  
  The Portuguese Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) have imposed a €16.5 million fine on him for breach of contract. He terminated his contract with Sporting citing fears for his safety, (remember fans attacked players and staff and there was a financial scandal back then (May 2018) at the Portuguese club).
  
  Sporting disputed this and claimed his full release clause £41.10m (€45m - AUS$73.62m - US$50.44m). The world association said the couldn't rule on the matter and referred it to the Portuguese sports justice system to deal with.
  
  Lille can not be prosecuted,but the player has received a fine. Leão earns £1.28m a year (€1.4m - AUS$2.29m - US$1.57m) the equivalent to £24,600 a week (€26,923 - AUS$44,057 - US$30,173). He is entitled to appeal and I'm sure he will. What can be done there would surely be a part of discussions when negotiating a move,such as legal fees being paid  for an appeal.
  
  There are rumours regarding a possible swap deal between AC Milan and Sassuolo with fellow attacker Gianluca Scamacca going the other way.

• Spurs are following 27-year-old (28 in September) PSG left-back Layvin Kurzawa, but the French international has now signed a new 4-year contract with the French champions. he would have been available on a free transfer had he not signed, hence so much interest in him.

• The German summer transfer window will run from July 15th until October 5th, the country’s FA has confirmed.

• Former Spurs centre-back, 27-year-old (28 in November) Austrian Kevin Wimmer hasn't played for Championship side Stoke City since they were relegated in 2018! Austria Vienna are looking to bring him back to his home country for the new Austrian Bundesliga season.

• Tottenham Hotspur will listen to offers for 21-year-old (22 in November) England U-17 striker Kazaiah Sterling this summer after a series of loans ay Sunderland, Doncaster Rover and Leyton Orient have failed to lisk-start his professional career.
  
  The job of our academy is to produce professional footballers, not just footballers for Tottenham. We merely take the cream of the crop,assuming they do not get restless and can't wait, then they look to go elsewhere to start, where they find that is not always the case.
  
  The grass can be greener on the other side sometimes, but not always, not by a long chalk.

• Watched by Tottenham and followed by West Ham, AS Roma winger Cengiz Ünder is a summer target for fellow Italian side Napoli - Corriere Dello Sport.
  
  The Turkish international is a target for many sides. Spurs watch him, but his price tag doesn't fit our budget for that position and we don't need yet more wingers with strong designs on Willian, who knows Mourinho's tactics very well but whose wage demands (Kane wages) are preventing him from joining us.
  
  I went into wages being the controlling factor in transfer business in a recent article:
  Explaining Spurs Transfer Window

• Chelsea flop Tiemoue Bakayoko is Paris Saint-Germain's Plan B if they fail to land our French midfielder Tanguy Ndombélé, claims Le Parisien.
  
  AC Milan are said to be in talks for the return of midfielder Bakayoko with claims that his asking price has been drastically reduced. Having made new signings Chelsea urgently need his wages off the books.

• Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai is of interest to Arsenal, reports The Sun. I include that so you can have a good laugh and see how little journalists actually research a story. There was Spurs interest reported so I wrote a piece on that yesterday -
  A Dig Into The Dominik Szoboszlai Stories

• AC Milan face serious competition from Premier League duo Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur to land Napoli striker Akradiusz Milik, a report claims. As regular THBN readers know, the Polish international wants to join Juventus.
  
  Juve want to sign him but are not interested in anywhere near the £45.69m (€50m - AUS$81.88m - US$56.07m) being asked for him, neither are we!
  
  Atlético Madrid are in talks with him, according to Diario AS who say they are struggling to complete deals for either Edinson Cavani (PSG) or Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal).
  
  His agent is said to have spoken to the Spanish via a conference call, to the Italian champions and to Spurs in the last week.
  
  Mourinho is willing to include Lucas Moura in a swap deal in a bid according to Corriere Dello Sport, however, I hear Napoli want cash not players in part exchange. Everyone is in the same boat, they all want money after Covid-19 has hit them hard.
  
  In addition, Napoli want to raise £90.58m (€100m - AUS$162.7m - US$112.31m) to buy Victor Osimhen and Gabriel Magalhaes, two players Spurs have been very interested in.

• Several Premier League clubs are among the suitors to 20-year-old (21 in December) Barcelona youngster Jean-Clair Todibo, according to Mundo Deportivo.
  
  Tottenham have long followed him, Southampton, Everton and Watford all have been following the Frenchmans progress. His future is set to be decided after he plays his final match for Schalke on Saturday.

• German magazine Kicker are reporting that 18-year-old (19 next June) Paris Saint-Germain defender Tanguy Kouassi to German giants Bayern Munich is a done deal.
  
  The French U-18 international is a  player Spurs have been watching and have made an unsuccessful offer to him as well.

• Borussia Dortmund have made a bid worth £36.55m (€40m - AUS$65.58m - US$44.83m) for Juventus centre back Merih Demiral, reports in Italy say.
  
  He is one of over 20 centre-backs we are following, but his price tag doesn't correspond with what we want to pay for a player in that position at this current time, the cogs of the wheel are not at the right point, for all those of you who read my recent article about transfers.

• I reported yesterday about the remarks of Atalanta right-back Timothy Castagne, who basically made a come and get me plea to PSG and Spurs. Leicester City are interested in him because there is interest it is being reported we are in talks. That might be putting two and two together to make five.
  
  There is genuine Spurs interest. I reported about when nobody else was in my right-back comparison table article. We missed out on free agent Thomas Meunier because he wanted Champions League football, but we need to know whether Norwich City are going to be relegated and what price we can obtain Max Aarons for before we can spend a transfer fee.
  
  Also we need to sell Kyle Walker-Peters so any talks that may be taking place will be just further preliminary talks with his agent to negotiate a financial package. This is standard practice and doesn't mean he is about to be signed, unless we can agree a complete financial package (transfer fee, wage, agents fee, signing-on fee) that we were very happy with.
  
  Celtic are chasing the 24-year-old (25 in December) right wing-back, who according to La Gazzetta dello Sport is on £502,370 a year (€550,000 - AUS$900,625 - US$616,165). That equates to £9,652 a week (€10,567 - AUS$17,303 - US$11,838).
  
  You can see why he is of interest, quite apart from his ability in an Atalanta team that is still in the UEFA Champions League after we have departed.

• Now I have seen it tweeted by an Athletic reporter that Eric Dier has not yet been offered a contract.
  
  Well I can tell you he has signed a contract, it is just a question of when the club decide to announce it, which I suspect will be after the FA charge into his conduct (going into the stands to confront a fan before lockdown) is finalised.

COYS

Catch Up With Recent THBN Posts

Description