After taking a few, certainly a couple transfer windows off, Tottenham Hotspur are set to get back in the game. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino feels confident that Daniel Levy and the rest of the higher-ups above him will finally provide the support he needs in the transfer market this summer.
That means the time is right for some Tottenham transfer talk and we begin with the stellar Christian Eriksen, who is out of contract at the end of the upcoming season.
The great Dane has made it known that he would like to leave, preferably for a bigger club. He’s been linked to Real Madrid and Juventus, but with the former already taking care of player acquisition business elsewhere and the latter fixated on bringing Paul Pogba back, Eriksen may need to look elsewhere.
He’s been linked with Manchester United and Liverpool, with former Spurs ace Jamie O’Hara believing Anfield to be the better destination.
“I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that they might try and take Eriksen from Tottenham as he’s in the last year on his deal,” said O’Hara. “He’s the type of player they need.”
If Pogba does indeed exit Old Trafford stage left, then one of the players who has consistently been linked to Old Trafford as a potential replacement is James Maddison of Leicester City.
Given that United are thought to be the favorites in the battle to acquire his signature, they have to be on high alert now, given the comments he made saying he’s desperate to win trophies.
Unfortunately, winning trophies hasn’t exactly been United’s greatest quality as a football club since Sir Alex stepped down six years ago. Maddison has also been linked to Tottenham, who despite having a much better season than United, are still looking for their first trophy under Pochettino.
But hey, they did make it all the way to the UCL final. Maddison, a member of the England U21 squad, has also been linked to Manchester City, and it’s possible that he won’t make the jump up to a big six team until next summer, not this one.
NBC rates his chances of transferring this summer at 60%.
It’s the same exact probability they project on Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha, a reported Tottenham target, but the forward’s future could be reliant upon what happens with Palace right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and the negotiations that the London club is having with Manchester United pertaining to him.
With the two clubs still miles apart on sale price, but United extremely interested, Palace are reportedly looking to leverage that interest into getting United to remove the 20% sell-on clause that they added when they sent Wilfried Zaha back to Selhurst Park in 2015.
United could potentially net as much as £16 million if the south London club were able to find a buyer willing to meet their £80m valuation for the winger.
The Guardian has much more over at this link.
Finally, another United related rumor, and an oldie-but-a-goodie in Toby Alderweireld. NBC Sports reports that “a clause inserted into his deal stacked the cards in his favor, and at the age of 30 the Belgian international has one more big move left in his career.”
They rate his chances of leaving at 80%, with Barcelona also supposedly keen.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.