Here is your Tottenham Hotspur morning digest for Thursday, May 14.
Spurs surprisingly in mix for Victor Osimhen
As Spurs look for a back-up to Harry Kane, a position they have struggled to fill throughout Kane’s time as the leading centre-forward, they have surprisingly been named as the club to have submitted a £75 million bid for Lille centre forward, Victor Osimhen.
In early May, Telefoot reported that an unnamed club made a bid for the 21-year-old, who notched 18 goals in 38 appearances this season and is seen as a rising star at the position.
Le10Sport then reported that Liverpool were leading the race to sign the Super Eagles star.
However, this week, Les Cahiers du Football editor Abdellah Boulma reported that the £75m bid came from Tottenham.
It is difficult to comprehend Spurs both affording the club-record figure and investing it in a player who will sit behind Kane. It is more likely that they will look for a cheaper alternative.
Finance expert provides transfer update
Even if the Premier League’s 'Project Restart' plans are approved, clubs will have gone three months without playing a match.
Once matches do return, they will be played behind closed doors, meaning that, while clubs are able to recoup the broadcast revenue, they will miss out on invaluable matchday income.
For Spurs, this is especially problematic. They moved into a new stadium last year with the intention of increasing their matchday income. They also raise funds through hosting outside events, all of which have been cancelled or postponed.
These include the NFL international series, Anthony Joshua’s upcoming fight against Kubrat Pulev on Saturday, June 20th, and several music concerts throughout the summer and autumn months.
There will subsequently be less spending in the transfer window, as finance expert Kieran Maguire explained to football.london.
"Apart from the very elite clubs, I think the transfer market will be quite subdued," Maguire said.
"The number of huge transfers are likely to be few and far between because those types of transfers will only arise if you’ve got a club who is in a very strong position as a buyer and a club who is in a very strong position as a seller, so we’re only talking between the elite clubs themselves.
"If you’ve got clubs further down the leagues, they’re going to have to take offers that they wouldn’t have particularly wanted to accept 12 months ago but for cash flow reasons, you might have had a player go for £60milion 12 months ago who will be going for half of that this summer simply because those are market forces."
Serie A start date revealed
While the Premier League continues discussions regarding ‘Project Restart’, they will be keeping a close eye on the plans of other major European leagues to draw ideas from and watch out for potential pitfalls that have not been previously considered.
This weekend, the Bundesliga returns to action for the first time since mid-March. They are the first major European league to do so.
Meanwhile, Serie A have also announced their targeted return date.
In a statement on Wednesday, Serie A confirmed that they are hoping to return to action on June 13, the same weekend that the Premier League has provisionally circled.
The plans are subject to approval from the Italian government but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that restrictions will start to be lifted from next week, including the reopening of restaurants, bars and salons.
The Premier League will be keeping a close eye on how Italy and Serie A fares. The UK’s number of cases are far more comparable to Italy than Germany. Thus, Serie A offers a much more accurate test than the Bundesliga.
