Tottenham have reportedly cooled their interest in Valencia’s Joao Cancelo.
According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur are cooling their interest in Valencia right back Joao Cancelo, potentially leaving Chelsea and Juventus to fight it out for his signature.
Spurs are still the only Premier League club yet to make a new signing this summer, but a new right back has to be a priority for manager Mauricio Pochettino before this month’s transfer deadline.
Kyle Walker was sold to Manchester City in a big-money deal last month, whilst Kieran Trippier is currently injured and Kyle Walker-Peters is too inexperienced to be called upon right now.
However, the Daily Mail report that Tottenham are actually cooling their interest in Valencia right back Joao Cancelo, despite scouting him in action for Portugal at the Under-21 European Championships in Poland this summer.
Cancelo, 22, has impressed for Valencia since signing from Benfica on loan in 2014 before making his move permanent, with his pace and his ability to play all the way up the right flank potentially appealing to Pochettino.
However, Spurs now appear to be backing away from Cancelo, meaning that Chelsea and Juventus are leading the race to sign the £25million-rated full back, leaving Tottenham to look elsewhere for a replacement for Walker.
Frustratingly for Tottenham fans, this has been an all too familiar tale for Spurs in 2017. Too many times this year, Tottenham have been strongly linked with signing players, before seemingly deciding not to follow through with deals over the cost involved.
- Spurs move on from Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha (May 2017, The Guardian)
- Tottenham cooled interest in Everton’s Ross Barkley over £50million asking price (July 2017, Daily Mail)
- Spurs back away from deal for Estudiantes defender Juan Foyth (July 2017, Sky Sports)
If Pochettino has another target in mind, then moving on from Cancelo makes sense, but if it’s because of the money that Spurs would have to pay Valencia for his signature, then Tottenham fans may again be left annoyed by Daniel Levy’s reluctance to splash the cash on new additions.
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