The club are considering activating an option to extend Erik Lamela’s contract by a year, sources have told ESPN.
The Argentine’s current deal — agreed when he joined us from Roma in August 2013 — is due to expire in summer 2019 but the club can extend it by a further 12 months to tie down the winger until the end of the 2019-20 season
The article adds that he and Toby Alderweireld are the only senior players at the club not to sign a long-term contract since the start of last season, and if the Spurs choose to exercise their option, it would alleviate doubts about Lamela’s future amid interest from other clubs in the Premier League and in Italy.
The Argentine signed a four-year contract worth around £65,000 a week with the option of two additional years when he joined us in a then-club-record deal worth up to £30 million and that deal has now become a four-plus-two-plus-one, although the article says we are in no rush to activate the one-year extension given Lamela’s history of injuries.
He’s been beset by injury problems and was sidelined for from October 2016 until November 2017 with chronic problems in both hips and the article says the club are conscious that in four and a half years at the club, he has missed a year and a half through injury.
It’s been a gradual reintegration into the team but he got a start in Tuesday’s Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Juventus, where he justified his inclusion with a typically energetic and combative performance in a 2-2 draw.
It adds that Mauricio Pochettino felt Lamela’s experience in Serie A and his intensity would be greater assets than Son Heung-Min’s pace and finishing against the Italian Champions holders and he is a supporter of Lamela, who has divided the club’s fanbase.
But, with Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli all but assured of a starting spot in the biggest games, Lamela faces competition for one place in Pochettino’s best XI with Son and January signing Lucas Moura — and the article says that Spurs could yet consider substantial offers for the Argentine in the summer.
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The one-year clause ensures we have an advantage in potential transfer talks and the article says the club will not entertain any derisory in bids for a player who is happy at Hotspur Way and focused on earning a place in Argentina’s World Cup squad in the final months of the season.
“I’m happy at Tottenham,” Lamela said last month. “If not, I would have left. I feel a part of the club. I’m at home here. I am not thinking about how long is left on my contract.”
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