The Week In Tottenham Transfer News Of Potential Signings

Ten days ago the press were confidently predicting that Tottenham were close to signing Paulinho, David Villa from Spain and two young Croatian players from Dinamo Zagreb. Last weekend’s confirmation of Paulinho’s signing from Corinthians raised expectations and we started the week eagerly awaiting the next announcement.

Will Defoe and Adebayor be with Spurs next season? [Photo: Jav The_Doc_66]

Monday

David Villa In

The week started so well with the news in The Mirror that David Villa could sign for Tottenham within days having reached agreement with the club, in principle.

Within hours, however, that hope was shattered when the news broke of David Villa remaining in Spain with a transfer to Atletico Madrid. Disappointment – well I did warn of caution in early June, saying that Spanish strikers prefer to ply their trade in the home country and are reluctant to move to the Premier League. Villa isn’t the first to take that decision and he won’t be the last but his father’s comment that his son had nearly signed for Spurs was akin to Rivaldo’s letter to Glenn Hoddle explaining why he chose Barcelona over Tottenham.

Back to the drawing board in the search for a striker or two and it was only 4pm on Monday.

And the other Villa News Broke…..

Early evening and the BBC reported that Aston Villa had announced that Christian Benteke had submitted a transfer request and had not travelled to Germany with the club on their pre-season tour. Not directly linked with Tottenham but Benteke is one of a number of strikers on many people’s list of possible strikers for Spurs.

Tuesday

Well, that’s no Surprise

Today’s papers link Tottenham with Villa, no not David, but the Villa striker, Christian Benteke.

Gareth Bale at Kit Launch

A number of papers suggested that Tottenham’s use of Gareth Bale at the launch of their kit for the new season, indicated that he’d be staying at White Hart Lane. No guarantee in that – only last year Rafael van der Vaart was used at the launch and he was on his was come 31st August. Later in the week the Daily Express revealed Real Madrid’s intention to keep the number 11 shirt as they plan to try to lure Bale to Spain before the transfer window closes.

Wednesday

Christian Benteke (Day 2)

Every paper covered the Benteke story as he is a target for Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. The Daily Mail reported that Chelsea are prepared to meet Villa’s asking price of £25m while the Mirror reported that the player had indicated that he would prefer to join Spurs. The papers can’t reach agreement on whether the fee Villa want is £25m or £30m or whether Spurs will break their transfer record to sign the Belgian international striker or wait for a reduction in the fee come the end of August.

Two Young Croatian Players

Last week the news from Croatia was that Spurs were set two sign the two young players, defender Tin Jedvaj and attacking midfielder Alen Halilovic. Neither will be coming as Jedval signed for Roma and Halilovic’s parents decided against him moving to London.

Loan Deal for Deulofeu

Spurs continued to be linked with Gerard Deulofeu the young Spanish winger on a loan deal from Barcelona. The story had been around for a number of days, with the Daily Mail suggesting Spurs and Everton were interested in the 19-year-old who is a highly promising player and has played for the Spain Under-21 team. The Guardian reported that Everton completed the deal to take him on loan for a season to gain experience in the Premier League.

Soldado Not for Sale

Having missed out on David Villa, Tottenham continued to be interested in another Spanish international striker, Valencia’s Roberto Soldado. The latest comments from the Spanish club were not too encouraging for Spurs as Valencia appear unwilling to sell the player.

Alvaro Negredo

Spurs have again been linked with the Sevilla striker, Alvaro Negredo. He looks likely to leave the Spanish club with Manchester City also linked. The Metro covered the story for the player who was reportedly offered to Spurs last January.

Thursday

The Belgium Connection

As reported last week, Tottenham are interested in Nacer Chadli the Belgian winger from FC Twente. They have also been connected with Ghanaian international full back, Daniel Opare who plays for Standard Liege.

Reports in the press continue to suggest that a deal for Chadli is close and the player’s agent has made positive comments about coming to Tottenham as reported in the Metro.

"“It has been known for a while that Tottenham are interested in Nacer. We would welcome this move.”"

Friday

Tottenham’s interest in various strikers continues to make headlines. Even Jermain Defoe admits that the club will be trying to sign strikers. Speaking at the kit launch on Tuesday,he said,

"“I’m a forward but I can’t be the only forward at a club. A top club will bring in top players. That’s normal.”"

Nelson Oliveira

Spurs are reported to be attempting to compete a loan signing of the young Benfica striker, Nelson Oliveira in whom Cardiff City are interested. The Mirror has suggested that he is available for a £1m loan deal or a permanent fee of £6m. It is thought that Andre Villas-Boas is looking for a young striker as well as a more experienced player so Oliveira may be a possibility.

Saturday

Benteke continues to be Tottenham’s main target with the Daily Mail reporting that they are preparing to make an offer of £20m.

Sunday

The Sunday Mirror has suggested that Tottenham’s difficulty in selling Emmanuel Adebayor will hinder the club’s attempts to sign Benteke. The sale of Adebayor to Besiktas which appeared to have been agreed has floundered as the player doesn’t want to go and is returning to London to commence pre-season training.

As always there are so many names linked with Tottenham it is impossible to know which deals are likely to be completed and which are simply the club being linked with players the media think might be of interest to Spurs. Benteke is an obvious target but it may be difficult to compete negotiations with Aston Villa especially if Spurs are reluctant to complete the deal before being certain of having completed the sale of other players. The news of the possible signing of Chadli appears to be progressing with the player continuing to be omitted from FC Twente’s pre-season’s matches because of the interest from Tottenham, according to sources in Holland.

Seven days on and there will probably be another list of new players linked with Spurs but hopefully they will have brought some negotiations to a close before setting off to the Far East for the pre-season tournament.