Tottenham supremo, Harry Redknapp has dismissed talk that Roman Pavlyuchenko is looking to leave Spurs and claims his future is still in London.
After comments from Pav in a Russian sports paper, suggested the player was unhappy at his lack of first team opportunities and claims that Spartak Moscow were interested in buying the player back for a knockdown £10m, the likelihood that the player could be on his way looked to have increased.
However Harry has calmed the speculation over any move or player unrest, saying: ‘His people came down the training ground, they wanted to have a meeting with me to talk about him,’ Redknapp said. ‘He doesn’t want to go and they don’t want him to go. He’s very happy.
‘His only concern was missing out on the World Cup as he needs to play for Russia but it wasn’t a case of him wanting to leave. He’s got no issues with the club, he’s very happy in London, happy at the club. I don’t think anything’s going to happen.’
I am sure that Harry would definitely want four strikers if he is able to and the reality is that we need strength in depth, if we are to achieve our ambitions this season, but I have to wonder whether this stance would change if a deal was offered where the club got its money back. Sadly time may be as much of an issue with the player staying or going, as the prospects of being able to bring in a quality replacement or even cash to fund other areas, may not be urgent, if deals are not looking promising.
Retaining Pav does have its benefits, as well as having a quality player, it allows the club to drip feed new players in and out, rather than make major changes season on season. Keeping Pav at Spurs until next summer, allows Harry not only time to assess other options, but also give the likes of Jon Obika a full season to prove his worth on loan.
A 13-14 million offer could prove very tempting to have money in the bank, but similarly why sell for a near 4 million loss and leave the squad short?
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