Benatia

[Barry Mead]

Sadly it's the Metro but it's good to be linked with an excellent CB


Tottenham have opened talks with Serie A club Roma over a deal to sign striker Mattia Destro and centre back Mehdi Benatia.

Spurs have ramped up their summer recruitment drive in the last few days with new boss Mauricio Pochettino keen to add several new faces to his squad.

Swansea star Ben Davies is on the cusp of completing a £10million switch while Italian reports say negotiations are underway with Roma for Destro and Benatia.

Franco Baldini, the club’s sporting director, has flown to Italy in the last few days to discuss deals for the pair, with Tottenham ready to spend big.

Baldini has a solid relationship with Roma having agreed to sign Erik Lamela from them last summer and he hopes to do business again.

Destro is seen as an easy option to sign with the player interested in a switch away, but Benatia is likely to be more difficult to sign, with several top Champions League clubs keen

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/22/totte...a-destro-and-mehdi-benatia-transfers-4805990/

 

[radkovic]

Not a chance sadly. I'd love to, but we're talking about 30m+ for a CB here.

 

[ButchCassidy]

Just about every team above us in world football would sign him if he was available right now. Not a chance.

 

[tom4s]

So not gonna happen.

 

[Barry Mead]

So not gonna happen.

Well City and Bayern are reportedly interested, so lets say unlikely, but a number of people were getting worried we weren't getting linked with any CB's lately

 

[formlesswater]

Well, we got Lamela from Roma. Is Benatia that much more sought after than Lamela was last year?

 

[Qualsonic]

Either would be superb, but I'd rate our chances on Benatia as 0, and I don't see Destro leaving Italy.

 

[danielneeds]

Unfortunately not. Exactly what we need alongside Jan - experienced, hard as nails, and seems to be a leader at the back.

 

[Qualsonic]

Well, we got Lamela from Roma. Is Benatia that much more sought after than Lamela was last year?

I'd say so, yes - the potential in Lamela is greater, but Benatia has been performing at a high standard for three years now.

 

[ButchCassidy]

Well, we got Lamela from Roma. Is Benatia that much more sought after than Lamela was last year?

Yeah, he really is. Lamela was a very good prospect, but Benatia is one of the top CBs in the world.

 

[HibeeSpur]

These are the kind of players we should be trying to get before they increase in value exponentially. Benatia moved to Roma from Udinese last year for £10 million and now he is worth £30 million +.

 

[Barry Mead]

Well, we got Lamela from Roma. Is Benatia that much more sought after than Lamela was last year?

Well it is always a bit about who really wants and needs the player at the time, deals like Falcao to AM and Rodriguez to Monaco were a bit surprising at the time with other "bigger" clubs seemingly expecting to tie up deals, to be fair we have managed the likes of Bale, Modric and Lamela against a huge amount of reported interest
You can never discount anything in football but it does look a tough one

 

[spursfan77]

Is he any good?

Who would you say he's similar to playing in the premier league now?

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Does Baldini's connections not stretch any further than Roma.. I was under the impression his black book was bulging at seams with contacts, but appears to be a Roma exclusive list.

 

[neptunes]

Just put him out of the equation. he has just stated he is staying put.

 

[Barry Mead]

Does Baldini's connections not stretch any further than Roma.. I was under the impression his black book was bulging at seams with contacts, but appears to be a Roma exclusive list.

Paulinho, Chadli, Holtby, Soldado, Capoe, Eriksen, Vlad ?

 

[Flashspur]

a classy CB....a major coup if it came off

 

[HoltbiusMac]

Well, we got Lamela from Roma. Is Benatia that much more sought after than Lamela was last year?

Yeah because there's relatively speaking a fair few nifty winger/no. 10 types whilst there's very few top level CBs.

This one really, really isn't going to happen.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

I'm not saying this will never happen because anything is possible.

But.....this won't happen.

Here is a statement from Sabatini from earlier this summer regarding Benatia

"Personally I think €30m is the value of Benatia's weak foot. If Benatia's weak foot is worth €30m then the total price would be €61m.

"Benatia is not for sale, unless someone comes to us with an offer of €61m."

So that sounds like a deal that would be very difficult to work out....

 

[Sweech]

No way this is happening. Way too many other bigger clubs have/are interested. He's staying there anyway.