Disappointment this week as David Villa, believed by many to be on his way to Spurs, chose to join Atletico Madrid for substantially less than Spurs were reported to be willing to pay. That leaves a rather large striker sized hole in the Spurs squad still and there have been quite a few changes in the odds on certain strikers to be joining or not joining Spurs.
It seems that attentions have turned to Christian Benteke who put in a transfer request just hours after news broke that David Villa was staying in Spain. Spurs have been made the early favourites to sign another Belgian to play alongside Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele despite reported interest from Chelsea and Liverpool amongst others. A price tag of £25m would seem too much for the ultra shrewd Daniel Levy yet Spurs are just 4/7 with some bookies to snap Benteke up before the transfer window closes and only as big as even money with one bookie. Spurs are deemed to be the only club capable of getting Benteke to move as Aston Villa are 3/1 to keep hold of their star man, ahead of Chelsea who are 5/1, Arsenal who are 8/1 and Liverpool at 12/1.
There aren’t really many options out there now for Spurs with no Champions League football to offer and a fairly strict wage structure and it seems the only other striker really in the pipeline is Valencia’s Roberto Soldado. Spurs are favourites to sign the Spaniard but the bookies aren’t as confident in Soldado as they are in Benteke as Spurs can be backed at 3/1 to pick up the man that was a member of the victorious Spanish Confederations Cup squad. Atletico Madrid are next best and they are 3/1 with one bookie and 8/1 with another which seems odd, both in the difference in odds and also because they’ve already signed David Villa.
If neither Benteke or Soldado fail to materialise then it could be another season of Adebayor and Defoe as the next best option seems to be going back in for Leandro Damiao but he’s now out to 11/1 to sign this summer and he’s odds on to join Napoli who are also the favourites to sign another reported Spurs target, Jackson Martinez.
Perhaps a couple of sales will loosen the purse strings for a big striker signing and first out of White Hart Lane could be Scott Parker who is just 1/5 to link up with former Spurs boss Harry Redknapp in the Championship. It seems the signing of Paulinho has made a few midfielders obsolete as Tom Huddlestone is just 8/13 to sign for Sunderland this transfer window. Sunderland are also in pole position to sign Danny Rose should he leave Spurs, the Black Cats are 2/1 favourites to secure the man they had on loan last season. Meanwhile Emmanuel Adebayor continues to be linked with a move away despite no signs of any replacements, he’s 6/4 to move to Besiktas this window but Jermain Defoe, who is 9/4 to join Stoke, looks to be staying put with bookies offering just 4/7 that he is a Spurs player next season.
Which striker do you want at Spurs and who is most likely to be leading the line next season out of the available players? Would Benteke or Soldado be enough to keep you happy? Get involved and join the discussion with the OLBG.com sports betting community where £5,000 cash is up for grabs every month for your tips.
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