The president of a Champions League club has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur stopped them from landing their top midfield target this summer.
Spurs have made wholesale changes to their squad this summer, including to their midfield, with Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali arriving for a combined £185m earlier in the window.
Roberto De Zerbi has now confirmed that Lucas Bergvall will be staying at Tottenham, but the same is not true of Pape Sarr, who is expected to depart Spurs before the transfer window slams shut.
The Lilywhites have also let two other experienced midfielders go, with Yves Bissouma leaving after his contract ran out, while the Lilywhites chose against pursuing a permanent deal for Joao Palhinha.
Sporting Lisbon president admits Joao Palhinha wanted to join Tottenham
At the start of the summer, it was widely reported that Spurs were battling Sporting Lisbon for Palhinha, who played a crucial role in keeping De Zerbi’s men in the Premier League last term.
De Zerbi even said that he ‘100%’ wanted to sign Palhinha permanently at Spurs.
However, the Lilywhites chose to abandon their pursuit of the 31-year-old, who is now on the verge of sealing a move to Sporting’s fierce rivals, Benfica.
Sporting president Frederico Varandas has now revealed that the player’s desire to move to Spurs was the reason why the club did not tie up a deal for the midfielder earlier in the window.
Varandas told O Jogo (as relayed by Sport Witness): “Sporting were interested in the possibility of João Palhinha returning to the club. At that point, Palhinha gave priority to Tottenham. Tottenham did not accept the financial conditions that were being demanded, and Sporting could not wait for Palhinha.”
Varandas also made clear Sporting would not have matched those demands themselves.
He added: “If the conditions Palhinha and Bayern demanded from Sporting were the same, Sporting would not have moved forward. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. It’s simply not our sporting project or our strategy to invest tens of millions of euros in a 31-year-old player.”
Will Spurs miss Palhinha as a leader and a battler?
One can understand why Tottenham chose against pursuing the Portugal international, as they are very well stocked for midfield options following the arrivals of Fernandes and Tonali.
Palhinha was realistically not going to get much game time at N17, given the lack of European football this season, and despite his excellent end to last campaign, he is not a natural fit for De Zerbi’s system.
However, the 31-year-old is a model pro and natural leader on the pitch, and his leadership qualities in the dressing room could be a big miss.
Spurs fans will hope that Tottenham have replaced those leadership qualities with the additions of Andy Robertson and Sandro Tonali, who De Zerbi has backed to take a leadership role at N17.