A Review Of The Past Week’s Tottenham Transfer Rumours

In a week when the media’s attention was focused on the British Lions in Australia, England cricket in the ICC Champions Trophy, the failure of the England Under-21 team in the European championships and the arrival of new mangers at Chelsea and Manchester City, Tottenham managed to make a few headlines of their own with speculation and rumour on possible comings and goings at White Hart Lane.

Will Scott Parker be leaving Tottenham? [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]The biggest headlines were made by Paris Saint-Germain who have shown interest first in Andre Villas-Boas  and then followed that as stories appeared about their willingness to pay a world record transfer fee for Scott Parker, no – Gareth Bale. With the financial backing that the French champions have, anything is possible as they try to rival Real Madrid in terms of strengthening their team.

Out-Going

The report in the Daily Mail about PSG’s interest in Bale also indicated the players that AVB would be prepared to off-load as he strengthens his squad. Scott Parker and Jermain Defoe could be leaving Spurs along with Tom Huddlestone and Benoit Assou-Ekotto. It is also thought that Spurs wold be prepared to sell Emmanuel Adebayor but his salary would be a problem making him a possible target for only a limited number of clubs.

In-Coming:

Tottenham are reported to be interested in a number of players with Leandro Damiao still regarded as their main target.

The names of players who have been connected with Tottenham which have appeared in various media sources include:

• Ibrahim Afellay – a 27-year-old winger with Barcelona, the Metro reported that Spurs are interested in him with a possible bid of £5m. The Dutch player who signed for Barcelona in 2011 was on loan at Schalke last season but has missed much of the past two seasons through injury.

• Bernard – Spurs continue to be linked with the Brazilian international, a 20-year-old striker who plays for Atletico Mineiro.

• Paulinho –  a Brazilian international who plays for Corinthians, he is a strong, powerful, carrier of the ball in midfield who can score goals. He is 24 years of age and has scored 20 goals for his club in three seasons. Jason Burt writing for the Telegraph reported that he expected Paulinho to sign for Spurs as soon as the Confederations Cup is over at the end of the month. The Daily Mail, however, report that Roma are favourites to sign Paulinho. They introduce an additional name suggesting that Spurs have been offered the Benfica striker Oscar Cardozo. The 30-year-old Paraguayan  international scored 31 goals last season.

• Roberto Soldano – a striker with Valencia, he has scored 60 goals in three seasons with Valencia. The 28-year-old is a Spanish international has made 7 appearances scoring 4 goals.

• Fredy Guarin – it has been reported on Forza Italian Football that Inter Milan have rejected a bid 0f €20m from Tottenham for midfielder, Guarin. The 26-year-old Columbian international played for Andre Villas-Boas at Porto and joined Inter in January, 2012, initially on loan and then signed permanently last summer.

• Radja Nainggolan – the Belgium international midfielder plays for Cagiliari and would cost around £10m.

• Gareth Barry – is a surprise name to be linked wit Spurs. A report in the Daily Express suggested that signing Barry from Manchester City would cost £4m as a replacement for Scott Parker who had a less successful season with Tottenham, missing the first five months due to injury.

Then, of course, we had to have the views of Luka Modric on the Gareth Bale situation, with the Sun reporting that he would “fit perfectly” at Real Madrid. We are all well aware of that and I wish that former players would keep their opinions to themselves.

It is clear from the players in whom Spurs are interested where Andre Villas-Boas is looking to strengthen his team – midfield and striker. All of the players with the exception of Gareth Barry would be new to English football which is always a gamble but class will always show through as the player adapt to the needs of a new club in a new League. If Tottenham can complete the acquisition of some of those players, they would certainly strengthen the squad, provide competition within the team and bring another dimension to style of play that we have seen in the past year.

And Finally

It is expected that Tottenham will appoint Franco Baldini as Technical Director. He was the assistant England manager under Fabio Capello and has been with Roma for the past two years. He has now left that post and it appears that Andre Villas-Boas is keen to have him at White Hart Lane. AVB stressed the importance of the role in comments reported by the BBC earlier this month.

"“It’s something that I am used to working with. Since the first day I told the club that it’s somebody who is extremely important in my view to the structure of the club.”"