Here are the Tottenham Hotspur evening headlines for Friday August 28.
Tottenham fans react to Diego Costa transfer links
Spurs are close to their second senior summer signing, having already brought Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to north London, but number three could also be on the way soon.
Talks continue over a move to sign Wolves’ Matt Doherty, but manager Jose Mourinho has also reportedly been offered the chance to sign Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid.
According to the Star, Atletico are prepared to let the 31-year-old leave this summer to avoid losing him on a free in 2021.
Costa was signed by Mourinho for Chelsea in 2014, and top-scored for the Blues as they won the Premier League title in the 2014/15 season.
While the Spanish international wasn’t at his best last season, scoring just five goals in 23 league games, plenty of Spurs supporters believe he could benefit their team going into the upcoming league campaign.
We’ve picked out a selection of responses here.
Doherty will count towards Spurs’ homegrown quota… but Dier does not
Tottenham’s signing of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has left them at the limit for foreign players, once again putting the home-grown player quota in focus.
Irish international Matt Doherty looks to be on his way from Wolves, but the right-back - despite his nationality, will count towards one of the eight ‘home-grown’ spots Spurs need to fill in order to be allowed the full quota of 25 senior squad players.
According to the Premier League’s rules, “A Home-Grown Player means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).”
This means Doherty would fit the bill, having joined Wolves from Bohemians as an 18-year-old, in much the same way as Chelsea’s Danish defender Andreas Christensen and Doherty’s international colleague Shane Long, an 18-year-old when he joined Reading back in 2005.
However, Eric Dier - despite being an England international - would not qualify as home-grown as he spent the bulk of his academy career in Portugal.
Things are even more complicated when it comes to European squads, as we explain here.
Barcelona cast-off would be open to Spurs move, according to reports
Barcelona are expected to have a substantial clear-out this summer after the arrival of Ronald Koeman as manager.
One of the players linked with a move away from Camp Nou this summer is Ivan Rakitic, and Mundo Deportivo (via Sport Witness) reports that Spurs are interested in the Croatian midfielder.
The Spanish publication claims Rakitic “wouldn’t mind” a switch to the Premier League side, though he still prefers a return to former club Sevilla.
Rakitic, a World Cup finalist in 2018, spent three years in Seville before moving to Barcelona, winning the Europa League in 2014 with his first Spanish club.
He has one year left on his Barca contract, but the report claims his wages could provide an obstacle for either Spurs or Sevilla.
