Tottenham fell agonisingly short of a Champions League last summer, finishing just one place behind bitter rivals, Arsenal. This season Andre Villas Boas will be determined that the club make it into the top 4 of the Premier League. Here are summer signings who could help then do that.
Leandro Damiao- Internacional
The Brazilian striker has been linked with a move to Tottenham for many months and was the subject of interest from White Hart Lane last summer although a bid never materialised. Spurs interest in Damiao has continued into this summer and are set to bid £15 million for the Internacional striker. Damiao was thought to want to move to a club in next seasons Champions League, ruling Spurs out of the running for their long term target. But Damiao’s agent has recently come out and said that the Brazilian is still interested in a move to Spurs and will help push the club towards a top four place. The Brazilian has also interested Premier League rivals Everton and Swansea, although they are unlikely to be able to pay the transfer fee to sign Damiao. So despite interest in other clubs, it looks as though Spurs are still in pole position to sign Damiao, especially as Spurs have a partnership agreement in place with Internacional, who they signed midfielder Sandro from in 2010.
Jonas Olsson- West Bromwich Albion
Spurs are looking to strengthen their defence this season, having let in two many soft goals last season, costing them a place in the Champions League. West Brom defender Jonas Ollsson has long been rumoured with a move to Spurs and after another strong season at the Hawthorns, Spurs look set to re-ignite their interest again. Ollsson reportedly has a £4 million release clause in his contract at West Brom and Spurs should have no trouble activating that if they decide to place a bid for the Swedish defender. However, their is interest from other clubs in the defender, with Arsenal and Stoke said to interested. With Arsenal playing Champions League football next season, that could sway the Swede’s decision about who to play for next season were he to leave the Hawthorns this summer.
David Villa- Barcelona
Villa has a reputation as one of the most dangerous strikers in Europe, having scored plenty of goals during his career at Valencia and then Barcelona, the club he currently plays for. Villa can also play out wide in a front three, which he has been doing at Barca since Lionel Messi moved into the centre forward position. Villa has struggled to hold down a regular place in the Barcelona starting line-up this season, with injury being a constant annoyance to the Spanish international. Since the end of the season, Barcelona have signed Brazilian forward Neymar, one of the most highly rated young players in the world. This could push Villa further away from a starting place at Barcelona and the striker is known to want to play first team football ahead of next summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Because of that, speculation has mounted that Villa will be leaving the Spanish champions this summer and the striker has spoken about his admiration for the Premier League. Spurs are in the market for a striker and Villa would appear to fit the bill. However, Spurs are set to face competition for the Spaniards signature from Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal look to be front-runners due to Villa’s preference that the club he plays for is in this season Champions League, so Spurs may have some work to do in order to get their man.
Robert Soldado- Valencia
Spurs are known to want to sign a striker this summer, a player who can score at least 20 goals a season. Soldado appear to fit the bill, having had several prolific seasons playing in La Liga. Soldado has scored 60 goals in 3 years with Spanish side Valencia and is the clubs prized asset so Valencia are unlikely to want to let Soldado leave. They may not have a choice though, as the Spanish club missed out on a place in next seasons Champions League, meaning Soldado may end up looking elsewhere. The Spanish club are known to have had financial problems so if a club like Spurs manages to pay the £20 million reported price for Soldado, Valenica would find it hard to resist. Soldado is likely to attract interest from other clubs in Europe as he is a proven goal scorer and likes to operate in the 6 yard box, looking for goal scoring opportunities. If a club in the Champions League bids for Soldado, Spurs may miss out on the striker.
Jackson Martinez- FC Porto
Jackson Martinez is another striker that is on Tottenham’s radar. The striker was prolific last season for Porto, scoring 34 goals in 29 appearances for the club. This type of goal scoring pedigree has attracted the interest of Spurs, who need to sign a regular goal scorer after strikers Jermaine Defoe and Emmanuel Adeybayor had disappointing campaigns. With the possibility of Adeybayor leaving Spurs this summer increasing, the club are looking into signing a striker or two. Martinez is another who fits the bill, someone who can score at least 20 goals a season and push the club towards the top 4. Spurs are so interested in Martinez, that they may look to pay their record transfer fee for the striker, with a huge £25 million being reported as a possible price for Martinez. It is unknown whether the striker will be willing to leave Porto for North London and the Portuguese striker is thought to contemplating signing another contract at Porto.
Christan Atsu- FC Porto
Winger Christan Atsu has been linked with a move to Spurs for the past year and the winger has made no secret of his desire to move to the Premier League. The winger has refused to sign a new club with Porto. A new contract would have increased his release clause to 30 million euros. The Ghanaian was given his first Porto call up by Tottenham manager Andre Villas Boas when the Portuguese manager was in charge of Porto in 2011. It now looks like the players former manager is interested in bringing Atsu to the White Hart Lane, possibly as a replacement for Gareth Bale, who has been linked with moves to Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid. Losing Bale would be a huge blow to Villas-Boas, being his one world class player at Tottenham. However, the highly rated Atsu could do a good job in replacing the Welshman given the chance and certainly would like a crack at the Premier League especially at Spurs with his former manager.
Heung Min-Son- Hamburg
Min-Son is another striker that has been linked with a move to Tottenham this summer. Spurs have been monitoring the situation involving the South Korean international for the past few months and are thought to want to bring in the highly rated young striker. Son has shown great potential this season, scoring 12 goals in 33 appearances for the German club Hamburg. Son is entering the final year of his contract with Hamburg and the German club will almost certainly sell this summer to avoid the striker moving for free next year. Spurs could bid but it may be futile as Son could move to Bayer Leverkusen if Chelsea conclude their deal for Leverkusen winger Andre Schurrle. Leverkusen will use the money they make from the Schurrle transfer to make a move for Son, who is said to be interested in moving to the former Champions League runners up.
Christian Benitez- Club America
Benitez has plenty of experience in playing in England, following his stint for Birmingham City. With Tottenham wanting to sign a couple of strikers this summer, Benitez may be a good piece of business for Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas. Benitez left Birmingham in 2010 and could be interested in a move back to the Premier League, especially a club that is in Europe next season. Spurs are reportedly set to offer Club America £9 million for the striker, and that could be enough to bring the striker to White Hart Lane. With Spurs possibly ready to get rid of Adeybayor and with increased speculation surrounding Gareth Bale, Villas-Boas knows that he will need to sign plenty of goalscorers this summer if they are going to force their way into the Premier Leagues top four.
Alvaro Negredo- Sevilla
The Spaniard Negredo is another striker that Spurs look set to bid for. Negredo has been one of Sevilla main threats this season along with winger Jesus Navas. Negredo’s future at Sevilla may come down to whether the Spanish side feel that they need to sell another star player, following Navas move to Manchester City for a reported £17 million earlier this week. It was thought that Sevilla were going to have to sell Negredo this summer in order to raise some money but now that Navas has gone, it is doubtful that Sevilla need to sell their star striker. Still rumours persist surrounding striker, with Tottenham amongst a number of clubs in the Premier League to be interested in Negredo’s services. West Ham had a bid of £14.5 million rejected by Sevilla earlier this week, with club officials in Seville saying the bid was to low for a player of Negredo’s calibre. It may be that Spurs do have the money to test Sevilla’s resolve, and could offer up to £20 million for the striker. It is known that Spurs need to strengthen their strike force and signing Negredo would certainly do that for them.
Christan Benteke- Aston Villa
Belgian striker Benteke is one of the highest rated striker in the Premier League at the moment, having made a series of impressive performances that helped to keep Villa in the Premier League. Benteke’s performances have created a number of clubs that are interested in his services and Spurs are one of those clubs. Strong and quick, Benteke is a formidable presence up front and can be a defenders nightmare, as he proved in Villa’s 6-1 victory over Sunderland at Villa Park. Spurs are enquiring about a lot of strikers at the moment and it seems that Benteke as at the top of the list. Villa aren’t willing to sell the striker however and manager Paul Lambert sees him as a crucial part of the Villa side going into the future. Lambert is so determined to keep hold of him meaning that he has placed a £40 million price on Benteke’s head. The striker appears to want to move away from Villa Park to a club towards the top of the Premier League. Rumours suggest that Arsenal and Liverpool are interested in the striker as well as Spurs. Once again the lure of Champions League football could sway Benteke’s decision and he could well plump for a move to Arsenal.