Tottenham Hotspur were ‘very keen’ to sign Ollie Watkins from Brentford but were unwilling to pay the £28 million required to land the new Aston Villa man, according to The Athletic – in a depressing state of affairs for the club’s supporters.
Spurs are in dire need of an additional centre forward option in the final third and missing out on the new Villans signing is frustrating for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Tottenham are clearly a more attractive proposition than a Villa outfit that narrowly avoided relegation last season.
If Watkins was the man that Jose Mourinho and the club wanted, the reluctance to go out and match Villa in the transfer market is a sad indictment of the financial state Spurs are in.
Secondly, the former Brentford forward certainly fits the bill in terms of a Tottenham signing, with his potential clearly there, the fact he is a homegrown player and able to improve.
Finally, with Spurs’ search for a new forward continuing and Mourinho admitting ahead of Sunday’s clash against Everton that the club were working hard to secure a deal, the transfer market still looks like a tough proposition.
Regardless of the economic downturn this year, the fact that Villa are paying £28 million for Watkins, while Wolves are paying £37 million for Fabio Silva shows that the money needs to be splashed to land quality.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is renowned for his shrewdness and frugality in the transfer market, but cheap alternatives rarely work and the club needs to match its Premier League rivals if they are to sign a player that can make the required impact.