‘Raise £60m’: Tottenham urged to target two players who could become their Bruno Fernandes

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Tottenham Hotspur need their own Bruno Fernandes and could find one in the shape of Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish or Leicester City talisman James Maddison, Jamie O’Hara has told talkSPORT (3 September, 9.30am).

The irony of such a statement will be lost on no-one in the white corner of north London.

Speaking to Record in December, a Portugal international midfielder who transformed Manchester United almost overnight admitted he wanted to put pen to paper with Tottenham as recently as last summer.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side eventually paid £47 million to secure Fernandes’ signature eight months ago.

And while that’s hardly pocket change, you can guarantee Aston Villa and Leicester would demand far more than that for Grealish or Maddison.

The former is valued at £80 million, while the latter signed a new four-year deal at the King Power Stadium last week.

So while O’Hara has a point, the chances of Tottenham bringing Grealish or Maddison to the capital look about as slender as one of Peter Crouch’s legs.

“Tottenham have to strengthen in midfield, they need central midfield players. They need a creative spark,” O’Hara said, hoping for a Christian Eriksen replacement before the window slams shut. “They need a number ten who is going to make the difference.

“(Grealish and Maddison) are the type of players Spurs need to try to sign. Absolutely, they should be going for him (Grealish).

“If they raise £60 million for Tanguy Ndombele, they have to get a number ten who is going to make a real difference. Look at Fernandes when he came in at Man United.

“As soon as they got that key player, it transformed the whole team.”

O’Hara believes Wolverhampton Wanderers winger Adama Traore should be another name on Tottenham’s radar.

And the soon-to-be-capped Spain international may actually be within Daniel Levy’s budget, with the Mirror suggesting Wolves would listen to offers in the region of £40 million.

“You know what they should do? Go all out to get Adama Traore and get (Giovani) Lo Celso as the number ten, because he’s fantastic and he loves to get on the ball and make things happen,” the one-time Tottenham midfielder added.

“If you have (Lo Celso) as the number ten and then get Adama Traore, you’ve got pace and power with creativity.”