Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move for the Blackburn Rovers defender Ashley Phillips this summer.
The Londoners were reportedly close to signing the player earlier but the Championship outfit raised their asking price at the last moment and the deal looked complicated.
It seems that Tottenham were close to signing the player for £5 million and the player arrived in London for a medical. However, Blackburn were holding out for a fee of around £9.4 million.
Now it has been revealed that the player has a release clause in his contract worth around £2 million which can be activated on Friday. As per Evening Standard, Phillips is ‘determined’ to join the club and the deal could be done ‘by the end of the week’.
The development will come as a blow to the Championship who could have pocketed £5 million for the player.
Phillips is highly rated in England and he could be an important first team player for Spurs in the coming seasons.
Tottenham need to bring in defensive reinforcements in the coming weeks and they will have to tighten up defensively. They ended up conceding 63 goals in the league last season.
Spurs missed out on Champions League qualification last season and they will be desperate to get back into the top four next season.
Cristian Romero is the only reliable defender at the club right now. The likes of Japhet Tanganga and Davinson Sanchez have been linked with moves away from the club.
Phillips might not be ready to start every game for Spurs just yet, and he will be a long-term prospect.
Spurs are eyeing up moves for Edmond Tapsoba and Micky van de Ven.
