Tottenham are set to wait until the final few days of the transfer window to make a move for Manchester United forward Anthony Martial, according to the London Evening Standard.
Spurs have reportedly held an interest in Martial throughout the summer. The Frenchman, who is said to be eager on an exit from Old Trafford, has also been linked with Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Earlier this week, reports suggested Tottenham have no plans to make a move for Martial. However, the Standard now claims that Spurs are still keen, although they are willing to wait until other clubs have conducted their business before pushing for a deal.
That’s nothing new. Tottenham fans are used to chairman Daniel Levy leaving things until the last minute when it comes to transfers.
United are said to be interested in Toby Alderweireld, and Spurs are likely to be hoping Jose Mourinho is willing to offload Martial in exchange for the Belgian.
Whether than is indeed the case remains to be seen. It’s safe to say the final two weeks of the transfer window will be dramatic from a Tottenham perspective.
Spurs have made a very good upgraded offer to Alderweireld and would like to sign a new deal. Man U. intervened and said they would pay him a higher wage. You can’t blame Toby for wanting to see if that was true. Obviously Spurs aren’t going to have a wage war based on some speculative promise from a competing team. Obviously, if Man U. are going to pay his wages, they’re going to have to buy his contract. so far, they haven’t even tried. Spurs want Toby and have offered him a good contract. Mourinho wants Toby, Man U. needs Toby. Spurs are waiting for Woodward to offer 75M or alternatively Martial plus 35M. If he does that Toby will negotiate personal terms with Man. U. If Woodward doesn’t show up to support his manager; Toby will sign a new deal with Spurs probably for 2 or 3 years. The ball is, as it has been all season – in Woodward’s court.
Alternatively Man U can keep Martial or sell it to Bayern and buy Maguire instead and buy Toby next January for $25 million. That does not put the ball in the Woodward’s court now does it?
Maguire will cost much more than Toby and United know that. Maguire has a long contract with Leicester and they will play hard ball especially as Liverpool paid £75 million for Van Dijk and Morinho wants Toby, just do the swap and have it done with once and for all
Both Chairman are playing brinkmanship and both could lose out
Woodward has a reputation of being one of the worst negotiators when it comes to the transfer market. If Spurs don’t get Martial then Utd don’t get Alderweireld. The European transfer window carries on for longer so Spurs could receive a later acceptable offer for Alderweireld to leave for a European club or negotiate a new contract or sell him in January. As proved with Sanchez who was available this summer for free, allowing Alderweireld to reach £25m buy out date would increase major clubs interested and he could end up elsewhere in Europe such as Real or Barcelona. Sure Levy is comfortable that he will get what he wants, Toby will sign a new contract or he’ll make sure rival doesn’t get stronger.