Tottenham weekly roundup: Leaving for Oz, no new centre-back, transfer rumours
By Gary Pearson
Tottenham departed for Australia last night for their pre-season tour with no new centre-back onboard, forming the crux of another in-limbo, emotion-filled week.
Last week’s main news is no news at all on the centre-back front. Silent airwaves yet again.
Still no new centre-back. What’s going on?
Will Liverpool flex their steroid-induced muscles and steal the 22-year-old Wolfsburg centre-back from under Daniel Levy’s nose, or will Jurgen Klopp let Spurs’ chairman bottle proceedings on his own?
While seemingly in a perpetual state of purgatory where van de Ven is concerned, whatever happened to Tottenham’s supposed vested interest in Edmond Tapsoba?
He was, and still is, Spurs’ primary centre-back choice.
I still find that notion head-scratching, considering Tottenham still hasn’t made an official bid for the domineering Bayer Leverkusen marshal.
Due to Tottenham’s infuriating inaction on both fronts, the club is now being linked to Chelsea’s waiting-in-the-wings centre-back, Levi Colwill.
The Standard believes Tottenham is interested in the 20-year-old, who seeks assurances from Chelsea about obtaining more playing time with the senior team.
Like a toddler set on his preferred Christmas present toy, Brighton had Colwill on its wish list, but the Blues rebuffed multiple bids, including their recent and final £40 million offer.
I don’t see the Colwill rumour manifesting into anything more than tabloid fodder. And so we wait, hoping beyond hope that purgatory isn’t perpetual.
What about the Conor Gallagher rumours?
Pierre Hojbjerg is still on Atletico’s agenda.
But nothing more has come from discussions between the clubs regarding the Dane’s future. If Hojbjerg signs for Atletico or another team, Gallagher is Ange’s first choice.
The Australian gaffer thoroughly enjoys how Gallagher acquits himself. So did I until he moved to west London, where he disappointed almost as much as Chelsea’s 12 managers last season. Ok, so there is a slight embellishment on the manager tally.
Gallagher was absolute quality at the heart of Crystal Palace’s midfield.
But doesn’t Tottenham have enough depth in the No. 8 role, because there’s more chance of Richarlison taking over as our first-choice centre-back than the 23-year-old Englishman lining up as the side’s No. 6?
There’s also the £50 million price tag to put an aggressive dent in the chances of this rumour panning out.
Although if Spurs manage to sell Hojbjerg for £30 and Giovani Lo Celso for an unknown amount (probably about £10 million), maybe the Gallagher rumour becomes more feasible.
Dele, the real-life superhero
If you have three minutes, the amount of time before Tottenham makes its next signing (that was a poor attempt at humour), please read my piece on Dele.
In his Overlap interview, he said: “I’m proud of who I am today.”
I hope I speak for everyone in saying we all our Dele.
The never-ending Harry Kane saga — take 3
Ready for another Bayern Munich bid? Sure, like winter, it’s coming. But when, and for how much? Who knows. By the look of things, not even Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigg.
And certainly not Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, whose repetitive, regurgitative tweets are as tiresome and nauseating as waiting for an update on van de Ven or Tapsoba.
Rest assured, though, the third bid will be markedly more compelling when submitted. In a desperate attempt to keep Harry Kane at Tottenham for the foreseeable future, Daniel Levy reportedly offered our marksman £400,000 a week plus post-retirement career promises.
Oh, and there’s the tidbit about a meeting in Merry Old involving Levy and the Bayern executives.
They enjoyed tea, crumpets, and a lovely yet non-eventful meeting about Kane. No negotiations, no third bid, no assurances either way. Just tea and crumpets.
A few days ago, and not for the first time, Dušan Vlahović was mentioned in the same sentence as Tottenham, which I find paralyzingly hilarious.
As a contingency, if Kane leaves, Vlahović is seen as possible alternative. I feel Spurs’ time has passed with Vlahović, who was linked with Tottenham a couple of years ago. It would have been a brilliant signing then, but I’m not so true that’s still the case.
In any case, PSG is the only side seriously considering Vlahović. There’s about as much chance of Levy decreasing season ticket prices as there is the Serbian signing for Spurs.
That’s last week in a nutshell. And don’t let anyone convince you that no news is good news.