It’s Possible That Tottenham Could Sign Michy Batshuayi

Tottenham Hotspur have yet to sign a striker this summer, but after further review, perhaps Michy Batshuayi isn’t worth as much as Marseille are currently valuing him.

Tottenham Hotspur Blog News (THBN) has a very interesting article as to why Michy Batshuayi’s value from Olympique Marseille, which is currently at £31 million (€40 million) isn’t actually his real value. Rather, it’s the amount that the Ligue 1 side has to recoup because of a financial deficit in order to meet DNCG regulations or they will face a variety of strict punishments ahead of next season.

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Marseille must sell Batshuayi before June 30 — Ligue 1’s transfer deadline — which Mohammed Ali, a freelance writer for Ligue 1 and French football in general, covers in these tweets below:

So what will happen if Marseille aren’t able to find a club who is willing to spend as much as €40 million to help bail them out of their current situation?

According to a DNCG PDF (which was translated and taken from their Wikipedia page), here are a number of punishments that the French club could face:

The first punishment is simple enough, and that’s a transfer embargo. Another one is limiting the number of first team players that will be on the squad. Meaning, that Marseille will be short-handed for an entire season.

Two of the harshest sanctions includes relegation to a lower league — so automatic demotion to Ligue 2 (or even lower than that). The other is complete exile from the French league system.

Either way, any one of those punishments is something that no club would want to have happen to them, so Marseille are running out of time. They are seriously pressured to sell players and Michy Batshuayi is one of them.

This makes a £31 million offer seem likely to drop when the transfer deadline inches even closer. Now it’s up to Olympique Marseille to decide whether they’ll remain steadfast in hoping that a club will actually pay their asking price or sell at a major loss now and bite the bullet later.

Because Tottenham generally plays hard ball when it comes to negotiating transfer fees, this is one instance in which they have the upper hand because the 22-year-old Belgium striker is only interested in joining Spurs this summer. If he had a choice among other suitors trying to sign him.

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Having a contingent of Belgian internationals playing for Tottenham definitely helps. But that might not be enough if Batshuayi wants to be one of the club’s highest earners on a weekly salary.

If that’s the case, then that will ultimately stop him from moving to north London as Mauricio Pochettino and Daniel Levy can’t justify paying Harry Kane up to £100,000-per-week and then having Michy Batshuayi earning that much upon his arrival.

Now if these reports of Batshuayi wanting to be paid a lot are overblown and he’s okay with earning £80,000-per-week for starters — or slightly less — then all that’s left is finding a way to lower his value down to around £20 million.

Tottenham (like every Premier League club) are financially set because of a new domestic TV deal that will kick in at the start of next season. So all 20 teams can pretty much spend all they want. What Spurs and three other top-four teams have to offer Batshuayi is the opportunity to play in the Champions League come September.

But the number one factor that Spurs boast, along with Arsenal, is that they’re located in London and are competing in Europe’s elite club competition. Although, playing for a manager like Mauricio Pochettino, who has shown through his two years as Spurs’ manager, is that he will give young players a chance to succeed which is very tempting for someone like Batshuayi.

This is something that has been Tottenham’s calling card this past season — a youth movement — and hopefully when everything is put together on a platter: four Belgian teammates, playing in London, competing in the Champions League, working alongside Mauricio Pochettino and being a starter with Harry Kane.

It can help Michy Batshuayi want to lower his current value (even though it’s Marseille who put that value on him to begin with) but to also take less money to play for a club who is on the rise.

Next: Tottenham Stars Rotated Out of England Squad

At the end of the day, Tottenham might not be able to sign Michy Batshuayi. Marseille might get relegated from Ligue 1 if they don’t sell him and other players. However, it must now be cleared up that Spurs do in fact have a chance to sign the talented 22-year-old than previously thought.

Within the next 10 days, Tottenham will know if they have a chance at signing one of their targets to help strengthen the striker position.