UK Edition
Spurs face competition from Chelsea in £20million Ross Barkley bid
Tottenham Hotspur are preparing a £20million bid for injured Everton midfielder Ross Barkley, but still face competition from Chelsea.
Despite the fact Barkley is set to be out for three months after tearing his hamstring in training, Spurs are readying a formal offer for the 23-year-old.
Talks between Tottenham and Everton are expected to take place this week, with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy prepared to pay £20m up front, with the possibility of a further £8m in add-ons.
But, despite leading the chase for much of the summer, Tottenham and Levy do not have a clear run at Barkley with Chelsea also expected to make a bid of their own.
Chelsea have followed Barkley for many years and view him as a potential long-term signing who represents excellent value for money in the current market.
The interest in Barkley is not dependent on whether or not Chelsea sign Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City.
Everton wanted £50m for Barkley at the start of the summer, but were never likely to attract bids of that size with the England international entering the final 12 months of his contract.
The Goodison Park club still hoped to get £30m for Barkley a couple of weeks ago, but his latest injury has put them in a difficult negotiating position.
Levy did not want to pay more than £25m for Barkley, but now believes an initial fee of £20m, with the promise of £8m in add-ons, represents a fair price.
Tottenham banked around £4.5m from Gyfli Sigurdsson’s move to Everton, because of a 10 per cent sell-on clause, that could go straight back to the Toffees as part of the £20m Barkley fee.
It remains to be seen whether Chelsea will better that offer and the Premier League champions are not tied to such a strict wage structure, and could pay Barkley £100,000-a-week.
Tottenham see the attraction of working under manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has an excellent record for developing English talent, as a major advantage in their bid for Barkley.
Pochettino also believes he can offer Barkley better guarantees of playing time at Tottenham, even though he would start out behind the likes of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele.
The defeat to Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday further underlined that Pochettino does not yet have the options he would like on the substitutes’ bench.
He is yet to be convinced by last summer’s midfield signing Moussa Sissoko, who could leave Tottenham before the transfer window shuts next Thursday.
Other than Barkley, Spurs also retain an interest in Fulham’s 17-year-old left-back Ryan Sessegnon and remain in talks with Estudiantes over 19-year-old defender Juan Foyth. Paulo Gazzaniga is expected to join as a back-up goalkeeper from Southampton.