Tottenham have reportedly entered the fray to sign an attacking midfielder who looks to be closing in on a move to a Premier League rival.
Spurs have failed to add a new attacking midfielder to their squad more than once this summer. Firstly, they missed out on Morgan Gibbs-White, who penned a new Nottingham Forest deal after Tottenham thought they had a breakthrough in attempts to sign him.
They then focussed attention on Eberechi Eze – after James Maddison’s injury – and though the Crystal Palace man was almost theirs when Arsenal sprung from nowhere to sign him for themselves.
That leaves Spurs still scrambling for a new midfielder, and they might be able to land one who’s connected to the Eze move – his prospective replacement at Palace, Bilal El Khannouss.
The Leicester City man – who has two Championship assists in as many games this season – is said to be convinced on a move to Selhurst Park, with personal terms agreed in principle, but Tottenham, as per Africa Foot, have ‘entered the fray’ for him.
Chairman Daniel Levy is said to have ‘relaunched’ Spurs’ interest in El Khannouss.
The report suggests this could ‘change everything’ in the final days of the summer window.
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El Khannouss told to choose Palace
But while Tottenham could conceivably hijack Palace for El Khannouss, the midfielder has been told by Dean Ashton that the Eagles would be a better club for him.
“I think he would be a better fit at Crystal Palace, and I think what they’ve tended to do is look for talent in the Championship and blood them at Premier League level, you know, [Adam] Wharton, Eze, plenty of others to have done that with, that would definitely suit them,” Ashton said on talkSPORT.
“I don’t think he would suit Tottenham because that’s what they’ve got on the bench today, which is [Mathys] Tel and [Wilson] Odobert there, 20-year-olds who need to develop, I don’t think they need another one.”
Indeed, El Khannouss is 21 years old and has 32 Premier League games under his belt. He was directly involved in five goals, but that does not suggest he’d be a regular starter for a big-six club.
Tottenham round-up: Confidence for Savinho
TEAMtalk sources have stated that Tottenham have restarted work on a deal for Manchester City winger Savinho, and hope progress could be made quickly if the next round of talks progresses quickly.
We are aware, though, that they could pursue other targets if things don’t go to plan, with talks over Nico Paz ongoing.
Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Como “really want to keep” Paz, though, and would not sell for reported figures of €50million (£43.2m) and below.
Meanwhile, a loan move away from Tottenham for Luka Vuskovic is soon to be completed, per Romano.