Alasdair Gold has ruled out the chances of Lucas Moura being allowed to leave Tottenham before the end of the season.
It is now clear that Moura’s time at the North London club is about to come to an end, with the winger’s current contract running out in June and Tottenham deciding against taking up the option to extend it by another year (Telegraph).
CalcioMercatoWeb.it reported two weeks ago that AC Milan are keen to bolster their forward line and are considering making a move for the experienced Spurs star.
Turkish outlet Sabah (21/02/23 as relayed by SportWitness) claimed on Tuesday that Fenerbahce are working to finalise a deal for Moura before the Turkish transfer window closes and had offered the Brazilian a three-year contract worth £43,000 a week.
The report claimed that the Turkish giants were keen to conclude a deal to add the former PSG man to their squad ‘immediately’.
However, Gold has now said that Antonio Conte would not let Moura leave before the end of the season as the Italian would want sufficient squad depth across the frontline.
When asked if there is any truth to reports of Spurs being willing to let Lucas join Fenerbahce before the end of the season, the journalist responded in Q&A on Football.London: “There doesn’t seem to be any current indication from within the club that he will leave before the summer.
“If that did suddenly change, it is a move that doesn’t really make any sense for Spurs or, financially at least.
“To loan out Bryan Gil and then also allow Lucas Moura to leave would be crazy.
“Antonio Conte has finally got proper squad depth in those attacking positions and to lose one of them for the sake of around three months’ wages would be daft.
“Spurs and injuries just seem to go together so gambling your top four hopes on not having two players for each of the attacking slots would be mad.
“I understand Lucas was open to leaving in the January transfer window but if he stays for the remaining few months he will depart as a free agent in July, which is far more lucrative for him.
“And he would get a proper goodbye from the Tottenham fans, after the club declined to take up the option to extend his contract by 12 months before that option ran out in December.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I suspect that this confusion may have risen from a mistranslation of the original report from Turkey.
Sabah might have meant that Fenerbahce want to wrap up the deal ‘immediately’ ahead of a summer move rather than suggesting that Moura could complete the move immediately.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
