It’s been a busy transfer window for Tottenham Hotspur, in terms of effort if nothing else. They’ve been working to close deals for Wolves winger Adama Traoré and Porto trickster Luis Díaz, but it’s increasingly looking like the pair are making respective runs to Barcelona and Liverpool instead. What the Rumour Mill would give to be a fly on the wall when Antonio Conte runs into Daniel Levy in the canteen this morning.
Tanguy Ndombele meanwhile is off to PSG, but if Spurs fans sense optimism whistling out of the exit door with him, there’s a smidgen of hope in the form of Bayern Munich keeper Alexander Nubel, who is being lined up to shadow Hugo Lloris. This isn’t helping, is it.
Wolves fans dismayed at the loss of Traoré will find succour in the news that Rúben Neves, currently on Arsenal and Manchester United’s radar, is staying put.
Here’s a further blow for Mikel Arteta’s midfield, depending on which way you look at it: Granit Xhaka is off to Roma, where the red-card magnet will hopefully find some inner peace under the less combustible stewardship of José Mourinho.
More bad news for Arsenal, to balance out the Spurs stuff at the top of the page: goalscoring target Dusan Vlahovic will soon be banging them in for Juventus, who have agreed a deal with Fiorentina for the best part of £63m.
Armando Broja, fresh from giving Manchester City the runaround last weekend, is a target for West Ham, Leeds, Wolves and Everton. Southampton, who have dibs on him for the rest of the season before he returns to Chelsea, are interested too.
West Ham also want Blackburn striker Ben Brereton Díaz, who on Wednesday night scored the sort of header for Chile against Argentina that would make Rovers legend Alan Shearer proud. The Hammers also have an eye on Liverpool defender Nat Phillips, as well as old boy Jesse Lingard, though he fancies a move to Newcastle. However, with Manchester United asking the freshly minted Toon for the earth, Lingard might end up at the London Stadium instead … or indeed Aston Villa, Leicester or Everton. Worth keeping an eye on this long-running saga, which if nothing else is likely to come to a satisfactory conclusion before Partygate.
