Tottenham Still Interested in Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson
Mauricio Pochettino is looking to add some attacking options at the striker position and one target for Tottenham Hotspur is AFC Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson.
According to The Guardian, Tottenham and West Ham United are both interested in the 24-year-old former Coventry striker. Despite suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and missing most of the 2015-16 season, that hasn’t deterred both clubs.
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In fact, West Ham had already offered the Cherries £25 million plus add-ons for both Callum Wilson and winger Matt Richie prior to their season finale against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Of course, Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, rejected the Hammers’ bid because they want to keep their best players. But at the same time, the 38-year-old wasn’t exactly impressed with Slaven Bilić’s late bid by submitting a transfer offer the day before Bournemouth’s final game of the season.
“We had a bid yesterday evening,” Howe said on Tuesday. “The disappointing thing from my perspective is why the bid has come the day before a game.”
“You have the whole season to bid for players. I don’t understand that. They were two players who were due to play and there’s a lot of speculation surrounding their futures. That was bizarre.”
“It was rejected. We don’t need to sell. We’ve got a really ambitious owner. We want to improve our squad. Our biggest challenge is going to be keeping the players we have. We love the guys we’re working with. We respect them as people.”
Ed Aarons, the author of The Guadian’s article, believes that an offer of £20 million could be enough to persuade the Cherries to sell Callum Wilson. As for Matt Richie, that is most likely another transfer on it’s own.
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Tottenham’s interest in trying to sign Wilson mostly stems from Aarons’ belief that Clinton N’Jie has yet to make an impact and that the Cherries striker could compliment Harry Kane quite well due to his pace.
Signing Callum Wilson wouldn’t be a bad move for Spurs as Mauricio Pochettino is indeed looking for strikers to sign. But whether he fits the Club’s profile is another thing.
With Harry Kane being a well-rounded striker, it’s a good idea to compliment him well with someone who can offer pace, which apparently Wilson brings.
Although for now, the Argentine manager could just be gauging Bournemouth and Wilson’s interest in a potential transfer offer. If both parties respectfully decline, then Tottenham could simply move on to another player.
Spurs only thought of signing Wilson when word got out that Bournemouth were willing to offer £6 million for Ryan Mason. Because of that, Tottenham figured Callum Wilson could be brought back via a player swap.
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Injuries aside, to score five goals in six games, it’s obvious that the former Coventry striker who was signed for £3.4 million in 2014, has potential to become even better.
Should Wilson be fully recovered from his serious right knee injury, then it should be expected that another bid will come next winter if he returns to his scoring ways to begin this past season.
At the moment, Callum Wilson is just another target at the striker position that Tottenham are interested in, but won’t make any plans to move just yet. Spurs are doing their due diligence for the time being.