Tottenham Talk on Tuesday 20th
Tottenham Talk on Tuesday 20th
Hello folks and welcome to another glorious day with the Spurs supporting common sense blog, Tottenham Hotspur Blog News (THBN).
As an aside, when I originally wrote about upgrading Spurs TV and selling live streaming, that the club have now adopted, if only temporarily, I also suggested we create a skills series.
There are so many skills to learn, physical training to learn, healthy eating to learn, brain training that the channel could have loads of content to teach children, not just football, but healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.
It is a huge opportunity to educate that is massively underutilised at the moment.
Anyway, today we'll jump straight into Tottenham Transfer Talk and with players starting to return from their holidays at the end of the week or beginning of next week, we might start to see movement in the next 12 days.
Tottenham Transfer Talk
Rafael Leão
Jorge Mendes has offered Rafael Leão to Tottenham. He is a player we have been following and been linked with two summers ago.Leão is a 22-year-old (23 next June) Portuguese U-21 international (15 caps, 1 goal, 2 assists) which is a bit misleading as he has only played 708 minutes equivalent to 7.87 full games.
The AC Milan forward is under contract until 2024.
In 61 Serie A games he has scored 12 goals and had 8 assists.
Minutes wise, 3,323, he has played 36.92 full Serie A games.
Rafael Leao scored a goal in Milan's 6-0 victory against Pro Sesto in a pre-season friendly, but did not fully convince Stefano Pioli apparently and is thus being touted around by Mendes.
He played as a central striker for the first half and has these pre-season games to prove he has a future at the club.
A match report in Tuttosport said he was committed for the first 25 minutes but when the score was 2-0 he began to 'hang around' which annoyed Pioli.
Milan currently have him up for same further Italian reports say that Paolo Maldini (Technical Director) and Ricky Massara (Director of Football) would seriously consider offers close to €25m (£21.47m - US$29.42m - AUS$40.02m).
There have been no offers for him thus far and he is behind Zlatan Ibrahimović and Olivier Giroud in the pecking order.
Sander Berge
Sander Berge is another player we have been linked with before.Currently he is at Sheffield United who would be open to selling him, while Spurs would look at a loan with option to buy.
The 23-year-old (24 next February) Norwegian international (24 caps, 1 goal,1 assist) defensive midfielder is under contract to the relegated side until 2024.
Arsenal are said to have enquired and been given a price of £35m (€40.76m - US$48.03m - AUS$65.16m) but want to pay £10m less.
Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic on Sander Berge: “There is a possibility that he will be one guy who leaves, but I hope this doesn’t happen."
Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic on Sander Berge: “There is a possibility that he will be one guy who leaves, but I hope this doesn’t happen."
He wants one more year from him and will promise him a move if Sheffield United don't win promotion.
There is benefit to the club in that but quite frankly no benefit to Berge who could just move back to the Premier League now with a new club or move abroad and have Champions League football.
U-23 Pre-Season Friendly
The Development Squad took on Ramsgate on Saturday in a pre-season friendly at the WW Martin Community Stadium.
With several drafted into the main squad, the U-23 side were bolstered by players from the U-18 squad but still produced a very good performance.
The Tottenham academy lads pressing game was too much for the home side
Ramsgate 0-6 Tottenham Hotspur U-23's
Goalscorers: Dilan Markanday x3, J'Neil Bennet x2, Khalon Haysman
Spurs XI
Joshua Oluwayemi
Marcel Lavinier, Marqes Muir, Jubril Okedina (c) Jordan Hackett
Matthew Craig Michael Craig
Yago Santiago Dilan Markanday J’Neil Bennett
Kion Etete
Subs: Roshaun Mathurin, Thimothée Lo-Tutala (GK), Jeremy Kyezu, Dante Cassanova, Khalon Haysman, Jez Davies
Pierluigi Gollini
It would seem that Fabio Paratici is working his magic because I brought you the quote from Pierluigi Gollini himself, that if it came to a choice between Serie A and the Premier League, he would choose Italy.
Lazio are still interested in signing the 26-year-old (27 next March) but Fabio Paratici, who has been in Milan, has, it seems, agreed personal terms with the keeper's agents.
Atalanta have signed another keeper so his starting place is not certain and Paratici sees him as back up to Lloris and ready to take over when Lloris moves on.
That all comes from the Italian press rather than ours and they quote a figure of €18m (£15.54m - US$21.24m - AUS$28.98m).
'A "Home-Grown Player" means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)'.
I see it being reported that he would qualify as homegrown having been at Manchester United and Aston Villa but that is not the case.
He was not at United long enough and his time at Aston Villa doesn't count as he was too old.
You have to be at a club 3 years before you are 21 to qualify, Gollini only spent 2 years 4 months at United.
Here is the rules from the Premier League website.
Gollini was at United from March 2012 until 30 June 2014.
He was already over 21 when he signed for Aston Villa.
So unless I have missed something he doesn't seem to qualify as homegrown.
The Italian press suggest that Joe Hart will be sold to make way for him, Hart has one year left on his contract and Spurs have Alfie Whiteman coming through.
The other option is to allow Whiteman to go out on loan and develop by playing senior football.
Steven Bergwijn
Ajax have made an enquiry for Steven Bergwijn but he is impressing new boss Nuno with his commitment and Spurs will only consider letting him go if we get £30m (€35m - US$41.32m - AUS$55.82m) for him.
I have to say though, he didn't look to have a great deal to offer in the first pre-season friendly so we'll see how he fares in the others.
Toby Alderweireld
Ajax, PSV and Club Brugge have all spoken to Toby Alderweireld's agent, although since then, PSV Eindhoven have signed André Ramalho from Red Bull Salzburg, taking them out of the equation.
Erik ten Hag currently has Jurriën Timber, Daley Blind, Lisandro Martínez, Perr Schuurs and Lisandro Magallán at Ajax so it would take at least one departure to open a space for former player Alderweireld.
Alderweireld would be happy to return but circumstances do not align at the moment.
Spurs have set a fee of between €10m (£8.63m - US$11.80m - AUS$16.08m) and €15m (£12.94m - US$17.70m - AUS$24.11m) for the 32-year-old (33 next March) Belgian international.
Cristian Romero made more interceptions (30) than any other player in the UEFA Champions League last season.
Joachim Andersen
Lyon want €30m (£25.87m - US$35.39m - AUS$48.22m) for 25-year-old (26 next May) centre-back Joachim Andersen.
Both Tottenham and Crystal Palace believe that is too much for the Danish international (8 caps, 1 assist in 242 minutes, less than 3 full games) who is under contract until 2024.
As you are aware, we have many targets, Lyon are financially strapped and pressure mounts on them with every passing week to generate some income.
Nikola Milenković
Fiorentina centre-back Nikola Milenković is refusing to sign a 2-year contract extension.
The 23-year-old (24 in October) is younger than Joachim Andersen and is half the price with just a season left on his contract.
Reports suggest Fiorentina would want €15m (£12.94m - US$17.70m - AUS$24.11m).
If he does not sign then he will be sold but why would he want to sign just a 2-year extension, surely 3 or 4 would be sensible if you really wanted him.
However money is tight so not overcommitting yourself has to be added into the equation.
That presents us with an opportunity to get a very good centre-back at below market value.
If the Serbian international (28 caps, 1 goal, 1 assist) were to leave then the Italians would turn to fellow Serbian international (9 caps) and ex-Spurs academy centre-back, Miloš Veljković according to Serbian news outlet Sportski Žurnal.
The 25-year-old (26 in September) was relegated from the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen and only has a year left on his contract.
West Ham are also chasing Milenković.
Tottenham would appear to have Jules Koundé but he is waiting to see if Real Madrid firm up their interest and come in with an offer acceptable to Sevilla.
Paratici will be kept informed of the situation of all his potential targets and nobody will sign for anybody without an agent phoning him to let him know the score.
That way Tottenham can wait, but act if they need to when player circumstances change.
WE already have an agreement with Milenković in place over personal terms and I hear we have made contact again in the last few days.
The report from Serbia says that we have made an offer that was rejected by Rocco Comis, Fiorentina President and that Fabio Paratici has informed him that he will return with another offer at the end of the month.
Cristian Romero
Fabio Paratici has spoken to the agents of Atalanta centre-back Cristian Romero again, but face competition from Barcelona.
Romero was the Serie A defender of the year and won the Copa America with Argentina, together with our own Giovanni Lo Celso.
Cristian Romero made more interceptions (30) than any other player in the UEFA Champions League last season.
As I reported before, it's complicated as his parent club is Juventus, Atalanta have an option to buy him and can then immediately sell him at a profit, having been on loan there last season.
Here is an article on Romero that I advise everyone to read.
Lorenzo Insigne
Italian international (47 caps, 10 goals, 9 assists) Lorenzo Insigne is available for a cut price €30m (£25.87m - US$35.39m - AUS$48.22m) as he is refusing to sign a contract extension with SSC Napoli.
The 30-year-old (31 next June) Napoli captain is out of contract next summer and is a Napoli lad having come through their academy.
In 305 Serie A games, the left-winger has scored 85 goals and had 65 assists, that's a goal every 255 minutes and a goal participation time (goals, assists) of 144 minutes.
The Italian press report it is getting more and more likely that he will be sold.
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