Hello fellow Spurs fans! It’s another Wednesday and it’s time for another edition of Buy or Sell: Tottenham Hotspur transfer rumours. I will try to give you my opinions about the latest Spurs rumours. I am going to either ‘buy’ the rumour or ‘sell’ it depending on its possibility and legitimacy. So without further ado, let’s get to it.
1) Buy: Jan Vertonghen
Should Liverpool secure UEFA Champions League qualification, the Reds will target Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Jan Vertonghen during the summer transfer window, per Rob Shepherd at the Daily Mail. This is a buy from me, because this year Vertonghen is not performing as he did last year, and he is not happy with the league position of Tottenham right now. He already talked about leaving the club in the summer if Tottenham fail to qualify for Champions League. The fact that he talked about leaving the club in the middle of a crucial period for Spurs tells me that he is trying to send a message to the board and the manager. So, Vertonghen leaving the club makes sense.
But his destination could be tricky. He has adapted to the English game and he would like to stay in the country. Liverpool is lacking real quality in the back and they will come knocking in the summer if they do qualify for Champions League. They probably won’t spend their budget on attack because they already have one of the best attacking combinations in Europe and their worry is about their defence. Daniel Levy will ask for big money for a quality player like Vertonghen and Reds will have the money to meet the asking price of the Belgian. Vertonghen will definitely be a starter at Liverpool if he does end up there and he will be one of the centre pieces of an exciting project of getting Liverpool back to the top of the league.
2) Buy: Etienne Capoue
Inter Milan are in the process of constructing a deal to sign Tottenham Hotspur central midfielder Etienne Capoue, per John Cross at the Mirror. This is another buy from me because Capoue already decided to leave the club once and if Napoli had met Tottenham’s £10 million asking price, we would be seeing him in Serie A right now. Now that Sandro is back, he is going to be down in the pecking order and will lack the first-team football that he desperately wants. Inter Milan can provide that to the Frenchman and he will look to leave if the Italians come for him.
From the perspective of Inter Milan, it makes loads of sense. The Italian giants have taken a step back with the likes of Napoli, Roma and Juventus are dominating the league and they are lacking quality in every position. Buying Capoue will fill a huge gap in the defensive midfield area and he will be a useful player in the physical world of Serie A with his strength and height.
3) Sell: Roberto Mancini
Galatasaray manager Roberto Mancini is open to becoming the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, per Jamie Sanderson at the Metro. I don’t believe this rumour one bit because Mancini has just signed a contract with Galatasaray, a club that plays Champions League football every season, the main contender for Turkish Championship every season, and a club that includes world class players such as Drogba and Sneijder. Galatasaray will not let the Italian go easily as they already started to build the team around Mancini’s tactics with the players they brought in over the January transfer window. Also, Mancini will not easily be convinced to come back to the English League where he did not have a great farewell with Manchester City. He won the championship with the most expensive squad in the league in the last second, did not manage to get to the knockout stage of Champions League with Manchester City in two attempts and got criticised because of his rigid tactics. I don’t think Tottenham job will attract him as he doesn’t like to be under pressure. Tottenham is a club where anything less than the 4th place is unacceptable in a league where Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton are fighting for the same spot.
From Tottenham’s point of view, this doesn’t make sense either as Mancini will request huge wages and play unattractive football that will turn the fans against him. He will also request expensive players that will not be appreciated by Daniel Levy. All in all, this is just gossip and should not be taken seriously at all.
And there you have it. Those were the week’s latest rumours. See you on another edition of Buy or Sell next Wednesday.
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