Former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie has claimed that the presence of Harry Kane at Tottenham will prevent the North London club from being able to strike a deal for Dusan Vlahovic.
Antonio Conte has reportedly asked Tottenham to snap up Vlahovic when the transfer window reopens in January.
Gianluca Di Marzio told TuttoMercatoWeb this week that Fiorentina would like to cash in on the 21-year-old when the transfer market reopens in January as the Serie A club do not expect the striker to renew his contract.
Reports have indicated that Spurs would be prepared to put €70m (£59.1m) on the table for the centre-forward when the transfer window opens in January.
However, McAvennie has insisted that he cannot see Daniel Levy giving the green light for a big-money move for a striker like Vlahovic since the Serbian is only likely to play second fiddle to Harry Kane.
The pundit further added that Spurs might not be able to cash in on the England captain due to his ‘toxic’ behaviour since his failed move to Manchester City in the summer.
When asked about Tottenham’s rumoured interest in Vlahovic, McAvennie told Football Insider: “Any striker who comes in knows they won’t be number one. That’s a problem, for me. It doesn’t matter who you are, you will be behind Kane in the pecking order.
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“That’s why I think they will struggle to sign a top, top striker. By all accounts, Vlahovic is a top striker.
“Tottenham must know they can’t sell Kane. I don’t think anyone will go near him after what happened in the summer, he’s toxic.
“That means he will be here when this new striker comes in.
“So are Spurs going to spend £50million on a player who is only going to sit on the bench?
“I don’t see it. I don’t think Levy will sign off on that, to be honest.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It is extremely harsh on Kane to label his behaviour this season as ‘toxic’. To me, he just looks like a player who is short of confidence, which is understandable given he has never had such a prolonged barren spell in his career.
Hopefully, the goals he scored for England would help kickstart the 28-year-old’s season at club level. I do agree with McAvennie that is difficult to see Spurs shelling out £60m on Vlahovic when the club have both Kane and Son.
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