Apparently, Tottenham Hotspur do not have enough money available to them to sign Giovani Lo Celso this summer.
According to a report by El Confidencial, Mauricio Pochettino has told the Argentina playmaker that we cannot make a bigger offer for him until Christian Eriksen is offloaded, although that now appears to be easier said than done (and whether it is actually something we are prepared to do).
Our Danish wizard looked destined to leave the club at one point this summer after revealing he would seek a new challenge if Real Madrid came calling for his name – however, one report in Spain appears to suggest that Zinedine Zidane will not be doing that any time soon.
What has been a constant in a number of various media publications is that we have already made an offer for the South American, however, we were laughed out of negotiations by Real Betis as we were allegedly nowhere near their valuation for their star man.
The BBC claim that an offer of £53million was tabled, whilst the El Confidencial report says that the offer was closer to €40m (£35.7m).
He has a €100m (£89.2m) release clause in his contract and the report claims that Betis are not likely to sell him for under €80m (£71.5m).
Although Daniel Levy’s low-ball tactics in trying to sign Lo Celso on the cheap would hardly have come as a surprise, what will be disappointing is the fact that we do not appear to be in the position to have the pair playing together next season.
The 23-year-old managed to net 16 goals and contribute a further six assists in his 46 matches across all competitions last season (Transfermarkt); which would provide us with the additional goal threat from the middle of the park that has been lacking recently as we do not have the midfield options that can score regularly.
Eriksen may not have had his best ever year for Spurs last season – having blown hot and cold for a lot of the final stages of the campaign – however, he still recorded some exceptional figures that would be dearly missed if he were to leave us. The 27-year-old managed to net 10 goals and provide 17 assists in his 51 appearances across all competitions last year (Transfermarkt) and losing that could be devastating as no-one else has the ability to produce those figures for us.
Pochettino and Tottenham appear to have a tough call to make this summer if there is any truth to the situation – one that could very well mean we end up missing out on one of our transfer targets.