Ajax playmaker Hakim Ziyech is on Tottenham Hotspur’s four-man shortlist to replace Christian Eriksen, according to 90min.com.
Eriksen is out of contract at the end of the season and is expected to leave after seven years with the club. The Dane had been one of the Premier League’s standout creative midfielders for much of his spell at Spurs, but his form has dipped drastically amidst the speculation over his future.
Former Spurs midfielder Rafael van der Vaart revealed to Dutch newspaper Voetbal Primeur last month that he had encouraged chairman Daniel Levy to sign Ziyech next season to fill the void left by Eriksen’s departures.
Ziyech has six goals and 15 assists in 21 appearances for Ajax this season and was one of the stars of last season’s Champions League semi-final.
It seems that Spurs are heeding Van der Vaart’s advice as 90min.com understands that he is high on Tottenham’s list of targets and we are exploring how much it would cost to sign the Morocco international.
90min.com adds that Sporting Lisbon’s Bruno Fernandes, Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini and Brais Mendez of Celta Vigo are also being considered.
Fernandes or Ziyech for me please, Daniel. I’ve seen more of Ziyech, and liked what I saw, but the Portuguese’s goal record is mighty impressive.
Flash feet. I love him
He’ll be here next season. Trust me.
Hakim. bruno and atal please. I’m begging you.
Factors that could have caused Spurs’ slump:
~ Lack of squad investment by Levy — both in terms of signing new players and paying market-rate wages to existing players. This leads to…
~ Contract issues / players wanting to leave.
~ Player burn out. 4 or 5 years under Poch and he is quite intensive. Players getting older.
~ Psychological impact of losing the CL final, hard to “go again”. Dimitar Berbatov says he’s seen this multiple times with different clubs.
~ Poch unsettling the club by talking of leaving if we win the CL (I mean seriously WTF, who does that?).
Personally I think Levy not paying proper wages and refreshing the squad is the main factor. I think most/all of the other factors go away if he does that.
Also the chances of Poch being in the job for the start of next season is very very slim. Lo Celso being a Poch pick there is another ready made excuse. They are clearly keeping the details as quiet as possible as Danny said above the official Spurs site says nothing about it. Devious. But what we’ve come to expect from ENIC.
It’s very odd. It’s largely been wiped off the face of the Earth……I wonder why?? An article on inside football site states “IF Spurs qualify for CL the permanent deal will be activated” . It seems something going on, my guess is Levy will make out he didn’t want him if when the summer comes and keep the deal clause as quiet as possible.
Even if he joins, which he won’t, it will be a cited was a signing in next summers window
There’s a top 4 condition.
He has already agreed to. It’s not in his hands now, it’s down to whether we want him
On the official Spurs site it says we have “an option to buy” Lo Celso – so this will happen if we want him.
I’m not sure about that. Ziyech looked great in the CL last season
Yep. Lo Celso will not join.
Waster*
From what I can find…its a £15m loan with a compulsory purchase at the end of the season taking the value to £55m. So he is all but in name a full time purchase.
Is that actually the agreement? I cant find anything about it anywhere.
To be honest, any 2 of the 3 would be great.
The agreement is he wants CL to stay.Top four looks extremely unlikely though.
Why would Ajax players take a step down to join us? Arf arf
I’m sure we have the right to buy Lo Celso if we want. We need more than 1 creative player on our books. To have both Lo Celso and Ziyech would be great.
I was not sure of his terms on the loan, but I agree with point 1.
it is only a loan and 1. Why would he want to move here on a permanent with the trouble going on here at the moment. 2. I am not sure but thought his move would or could be permanent if we finished in the top 4.
it is only a loan and 1. Why would he want to move here on a permanent with the trouble going on here at the moment. 2. I am not sure but thought his move would or could be permanent if we finished in the top 4.
Where does LoCelso stand in all this? I thought he was CE replacement, so these guys would represent additional resource or they suggesting LoCelso will not stay?