An article in The Express says the real reason Mousa Dembele wants to leave Tottenham is because he can no longer cope with the intensity of the Premier League, according to Belgian expert Kristof Terreur.
Dembele turns 31 this month and will enter the final year of his Spurs contract.
He signed from Fulham in 2012, and has spent a total of eight seasons in English football and he wants one more big contract which Tottenham are unlikely to give him.
“He doesn’t want to sign a new deal. It’s more a physical issue than a financial issue,” Terreur told the Transfer Talk podcast.”He’s been struggling a lot with small injuries and he feels his body can’t cope with another season in the Premier League with another Pochettino pre-season and a lot of Pochettino training sessions.But Spurs are asking for a lot of money for him too.”
The article goes on to describe Spurs chairman Daniel Levy as a notoriously hard negotiator and a fee of around £25m has been mooted – despite the deal coming to an end in 2019.
“He is open to a new challenge, he’s hoping a Chinese or Italian club come in, his agent has been travelling around Italy,” Terreur explained.”There have been talks with Napoli and Inter about him but still I’m not sure the Italian clubs can pay what Spurs want.
Terreur added: “I think Spurs want around £25million for him so we will have to see after the World Cup what happens.If he stays for one more season I don’t think he will be too unhappy as he still loves London.He becomes 31 soon so it’s also about the last big contract and Spurs are not going to give him a new four or five-year-deal at 31 years old with his injury past.”
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