That’s assuming that (a) they treat him as a teenager and not as a first-team player, (b) we will throw money at him, and (c) that his main priority is money.
I’m not saying money is not his priority, especially since the cynical truth tends to be the case often, but in all his interviews that I’ve seen he comes across as rather intelligent and well-grounded, so I am leaning towards the perspective that as long as he gets paid on par with what the other midfielders are getting, it wouldn’t be an obstacle. It wouldn’t be the first time a player in demand has chosen us over better pay (I’m thinking Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain at least, probably also Virgil), so I wouldn’t be surprised.
But then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes elsewhere either, we just have too little information.
He didn’t look bad at Fulham - had the state of their team back then been like it is now, I doubt that he would have left Premier League. Napoli have struck gold with a few of their recent purchases, him included.
There was some talk before the summer of us being interested in a deal for him but I think Spurs didn’t want to sell him, so i wouldnt rule it out just yet.
Son is a smashing player, but like others, I can’t see it at this point. Unless a top player at an upper Prem club is winding his contract down, there’s no value there. The price would be way too much, and he is getting older as well.
If we are looking at a forward I would imagine it is a back up to Mo - someone young, fast, currently inexpensive, and with a high ceiling to have a chance of replacing Mo in time.
Possibly Moukoko or Duran, someone like that.
If we spend big money any time over, say, the next two windows, you would have to think it would be concentrated on the midfield.
Agree - would have been a great signing 5 years ago (congrats Spurs on that one), but would very much be buying high to watch him lose a step each year if we went for him now.
I have asked this before… As such a global club, why do we hardly sign players directly from outside the European region like Africa or America’s? Surely we cannot be short of scouts of these regions or is it an issue like permits visa etc? That always puzzled me. So players like Duran we will always missed out if we follow this pattern. Do we not have scouts that identify players like Mane, Keita, Diaz, Nunez etc way earlier? Or are there other reasons?
Its a visa issue. Countries like Spain have an easier time getting visas for South American players, Central Europe and Scandinavia tend to be able to get African players a visa.
In Britain its been a bit stricter so harder to sign direct from SA or Africa. This actually may have changed a little bit after Brexit and will possibly become easier to do.
Heeeey Jobe… 