Now that the Luka Modric saga is all over (with £33 million in their pockets), Tottenham might go on a huge late transfer window spending spree, hoping to sign as many of their remaining targets – Hugo Lloris from Lyon, Moussa Dembele from Fulham and Leandro Damiao from Internacional.
How much does Andre Villas-Boas have to spend? Rumors suggest that Levy has opened up the club’s golden chests with the plans to purchase players using up to £80 million if needed to capture all three targets, as time runs out to make changes before the summer transfer window ends.
The club has already spent £22.5 million on players this summer – Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim, Jan Vertonghen from Ajax and Emannuel Adebayor from Manchester City after he was playing as a loanee for the club last season. The disappointing start of losing at Newcastle and drawing at home against West Brom resulted in a bit more pressure to add players in the next few days so Tottenham are equipped to mount a serious Champions League spot challenge, maybe even more.
The nearest deal to completion, according to some sources, is French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. This has been a back and forth issue all summer, with Arsenal involved in the dealings as well. Spurs have blamed their North London rivals of sending out fake bids to make Lloris’ price go up. Eventually, Arsenal dropped out (or were never in it) of the race, giving Tottenham the chance to sign the keeper for what, at the moment, looks like £12-13 million, unless changes occur at the final moments.
And what about filling the gaping hole in midfield, which was quite evident through the first couple of matches this season, with Luka Modric out of the plans even before he was sold? The very impressive Moussa Dembele is on their crosshairs, although Fulham, battling to keep both him and the ‘striking’ Clint Dempsey, are persistent that no offers have been made for both players. Dembele was very impressive in his first two matches this season and at 25, might be finally ready for a transfer to a big (if Tottenham are actually “big”) club.
Last but not least is the problems up front, although the signing of Adebayor, who scored 17 goals last season for the club, should take care of that, partially. Still, Tottenham are still hopeful they might be able to sign Internacional’s Brazilian forward, Leandro Damiao, despite the club’s president insisting that there’s no plan to sell the 23 year old this year. He said the same thing about Oscar before the lad left to Chelsea, so until the transfer window is actually over, you never know who’s bluffing and who’s showing all of his cards.