Roma boss Jose Mourinho’s exit from the hot-seat at Spurs was a very embarrassing one for the Portuguese manager, who was employed to win trophies but sacked days before his first cup final in charge of the club.
Now, he could be looking to have the last laugh by beating Spurs to the signing of Colombian winger Luis Diaz, according to reports coming out of Portugal.
🚨| Tottenham are among the clubs interested in Copa America star Luis Diaz 🇨🇴, who is currently at FC Porto. [@cmjornal] pic.twitter.com/NFB0YkwLSG
— The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) July 12, 2021
The forward just scored the goal to give Colombia third place in this year’s Copa America three days ago – a 94th minute stunner from 25-yards out for his second goal of the game, which Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez came off the bench to be apart of ten minutes after half-time.
Despite having a market value of just over £16 million according to TransferMarkt, Porto are looking for much closer to the 24-year-old’s £68 million release clause, but there is hope that he could be signed for around £45 million.
🗞[@CMJornal] | Tottenham Hotspur are now very interested in signing Porto forward Luis Diaz this summer window.
🎯In his 30 appearances in Liga NOS, along with 421 Champions League minutes, Diaz distinguished himself as a promising player.#THFC #COYSpic.twitter.com/qyr21O2dnL
— Last Word On Spurs (@LastWordOnSpurs) July 12, 2021
Roma are extremely interested in Diaz, but Spurs have been credited with interest this summer too, and have been interested in him since before he moved to the continent from South America when he was playing at Junior FC in his homeland.
Another club that have been linked quite heavily with making a move for him is Brighton, but the price tag at the moment seems far out of their budget and not many clubs in the world will be able to compete with Spurs for expensive targets, which we have learned following the Jules Kounde and Maxence Lacroix sagas.
Last season, the pacey Colombian scored six league goals and set-up a further five in just 30 appearances – with 14 of them coming from the bench as he struggled to establish himself as a regular starter within the squad.
Luis Diaz shessshh. What a goal to draw Colombia level with Argentina pic.twitter.com/4JT8LbjtBx
— Fabregas Flow (@FabregasMullet) July 7, 2021
He’s a similar type of player to Heung-min Son, as he loves to use his pace to get beyond his man, cut inside and curl in an effort on his favoured foot – but an area of weakness for Diaz is his crossing ability, and that won’t go down too well if Nuno is wanting a 4-4-2 formation with plenty of service coming in for two strikers.
In a league like the Liga NOS, which is not considered as one of the top five leagues in the world, to be just a squad player and to only play 16 times from the start, should definitely be a concern for Fabio Paratici, and even a price tag of £45 million for a 24-year-old who is struggling to hold down a starting spot at Porto seems way too extortionate.
Maybe Mourinho can have his man, no hard feelings from Spurs, as there are definitely more cheaper but younger and better players out there, like Mikkel Damsgaard potentially.