Spurs make their move on £27m Barcelona striker Eto'o
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Spurs make their move on £27m Barcelona striker Eto'o with Berbatov set for Nou Camp switch
Tottenham have started negotiations with Barcelona for striker Samuel Eto'o. Spurs manager Juande Ramos has made Eto'o his No.1 target and it is understood the club have already met Barca officials to talk about his transfer to White Hart Lane.
The London Evening Standard reports that a Tottenham official went to Spain after the Catalan side's defeat by Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final last week to open discussions and the Spanish giants will listen to offers for the Cameroon international.
Barcelona will not sell for anything less than £27million but Tottenham are ready to cash in on Dimitar Berbatov and are thinking of using him as bait to secure a swap deal. Barcelona are planning a mass clear-out following their failure to win a trophy for a second successive season and Eto'o angered the club by getting booked against Valencia at the weekend, which sees him suspended for tonight's game against Real Madrid.
Eto'o is believed to be happy about the prospect of a move to White Hart Lane and admitted earlier in the season that if was to quit Spain he would only move to the Premier League. Ramos has been promised funds to build a squad capable of challenging for a top-four place and has already signed Croatia international Luka Modric for £15.8m, but Eto'o will be a real statement of intent.
More talks are planned next week with Barcelona but AC Milan have also registered their interest in the Bulgaria striker. The Italian giants have turned to Berbatov after giving up any hope of buying Chelsea's Didier Drogba.
Milan have helped their cause by overtaking Fiorentina in Serie A to move into the top four and the final Champions League place, with just two games to go. It looks set to be a summer of fervent activity at White Hart Lane as boss Juande Ramos bids to build on this season's Carling Cup victory.
Spurs slumped in the Premier League after their win at Wembley over Chelsea and can now only finish as high as 10th — a position Ramos will not accept next year. The Spanish manager is also preparing to raid his former club Sevilla for their brilliant left winger Diego Capel. In addition, Spurs may also renew their interest in Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra, having missed out on him during the January transfer window.
Berbatov is desperate to play in Europe's premier club competition and was noticeably absent from the official launch of Tottenham's new kit last night and didn't play at Reading at the weekend, although the club insisted that was due to a groin strain.
Ramos will move for 20-year-old Capel as soon as the season ends and could capitalise on the buy-out clause in his contract. That clause is directly linked to Capel's wages and how many times his contract has been re-negotiated. The buy-out price began at £9.5m but once he'd played 40 first-team games, a target he reached against Murcia last month, the price rose by £2m.
Spurs can pay the fee directly to the Spanish league and then negotiate with Capel and his agents without ever involving Sevilla.
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TOTTENHAM will test West Ham’s determination to hold on to Anton Ferdinand with a second bid.
The Hammers snubbed a £4million offer for the central defender when Martin Jol was Spurs boss. But new Tottenham manager Juande Ramos is ready to up the fee to £6m to land the former England Under-21 star.
Hammers boss Alan Curbishley has been told he must trim his huge squad before he can go on a summer spree. West Ham have six centre-backs on the books and with James Tomkins, 19, pushing for a first-team spot, Curbs may let Ferdinand go.
Ferdinand, 23, hopes to shake off a hamstring strain to face Aston Villa at Upton Park on Sunday.
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Tottenham confident of claiming Diarra at second time of asking
Tottenham Hotspur will make another attempt to sign Lassana Diarra during the summer transfer window, having missed out in January when the France midfielder chose to leave Arsenal for Portsmouth.
Damien Comolli, the Tottenham sporting director, is an admirer of Diarra, and was disappointed when Arsenal made it clear they would not sell to their north London rivals after the player had agitated for a move.
Comolli, though, believes that he can do business with Portsmouth, having opened a line of communication with them at the end of January, when he oversaw the deal that took the striker Jermain Defoe from White Hart Lane to the south coast. Diarra's name was mentioned in those discussions.
The 23-year-old, who moved to Arsenal from Chelsea on the final day of last summer's window, made it clear upon his arrival at Fratton Park that Portsmouth were merely a stepping stone to another big club. Diarra needed regular first-team football in the countdown to Euro 2008, and had grown concerned that his peripheral role at Arsenal could undermine his prospects of making Raymond Domenech's France team. Diarra has been a virtual ever present for Portsmouth.
"The people at Portsmouth know that I will not spend my life at the club," said Diarra after completing his £5.5m move in January. "I was able to add a clause to my contract. If I shine, if a really big club wants me, I already know that everything will go well. I don't want any more battles."
Tottenham have already pulled off the coup of signing Luka Modric, the Croatia playmaker, for €21m (£16.5m) from Dinamo Zagreb and Juande Ramos, the manager, appears intent on overhauling the team. It remains to be seen where he will play Modric - the No10's position is in the hole behind a lone striker, which would not appear to fit with Ramos' preference for twin strikers - but with Diarra on the agenda, several of the club's existing midfielders are becoming edgy.
Tottenham may be on the move themselves, as they consider whether to relocate to a new stadium to satisfy their craving for increased capacity. They are exploring the possibility of building on the Wingate Trading Estate, which is adjacent to their current ground, as revealed by the Guardian last month. The club's other option is to expand White Hart Lane, which holds 36,310 fans, but the plans are complicated due to the ground being boxed in on all sides. There is a desire for at least another 15,000 seats.
If Tottenham made the short hop to Wingate, the team could continue to play at White Hart Lane while building took place, as Arsenal did at Highbury while the Emirates Stadium was constructed. Tottenham, though, would not benefit as Arsenal did by selling their old ground to property developers for a vast amount. Land prices are lower in N17 and the site would more likely become a leisure park or car parking for the new stadium.
Daniel Levy, the chairman, had promised to reveal which direction he would take by the end of next month but yesterday the club stated "it will now not be possible to make an announcement within that time frame". Levy said: "I am determined that we shall work towards a successful outcome and a project of this nature and importance cannot be hurried."
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it doesnt make sense for spurs to world class striker by selling another.
what spurs really need is boast up their defence.
king is a 1/8 season man.--- SELL !!
dawson hardly world class.