It is no secret that Tottenham Hotspur were strongly interested in signing Brentford goalkeeper David Raya this summer before the deal fell apart in the last stages.
Raya himself was reportedly eager to join Tottenham and had already agreed on personal terms with the North London club.
However, the stumbling block arose from the clubs’ inability to reach an agreement over the transfer fee.
Brentford valued their star goalkeeper at £40million, but with just one year remaining on his contract, Tottenham were not prepared to meet that asking price and sought a more reasonable fee.
Romano has now revealed details about the failed transfer. He claims that Raya ‘was really close’ to joining Tottenham and was really excited about the move before the move collapsed.
He claims that Tottenham were dissatisfied with Brentford’s valuation and were confident that they could secure Raya for a reduced price.
Fabrizio Romano told Caughtoffside’s The Football Debrief podcast:
“David Raya was really close to Tottenham, the reality is that in terms of personal terms it was agreed.
Raya was prepared to make his move to Tottenham. He was really excited by that possibility and then Tottenham were not happy with the situation with Brentford, they were always asking for £40m for a player who was out of contract next summer, they were convinced they would reduce the asking price, but this didn’t happen.”
When that didn’t happen they withdrew their interest and shifted their focus on Guglielmo Vicario.
Tottenham acted swiftly in securing the signing of Guglielmo Vicario, completing the entire process from identifying him as a target to finalising personal terms and agreeing on a fee with Empoli, in just a couple of days.
