Tottenham Hotspur looked to be closing in on the signature of teenage winger Ollie Tanner – but the Lewes star has now snubbed a life-changing move.
Tanner has been training with Tottenham in recent weeks having excelled in non-league football with Lewes this season.
The London Evening Standard noted on Friday that Tottenham had made a £100,000 bid – and Lewes had accepted that offer.
Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction for Tanner, who predominantly plays as a left-sided winger.
Formerly of Arsenal, Tanner was recommended to Tottenham coach Chris Powell by Lewes boss Tony Russell.
Russell has spoken highly of Tanner this season, branding him a ‘special young player’ back in November after two goals against Haringey Borough.
The 19-year-old would have been making a huge move from the Isthmian League Premier Division to the Premier League.
However, Lewes have now released a statement confirming that Tanner has in fact snubbed a move to Tottenham.
Lewes claim that Tanner and Tottenham couldn’t agree on personal terms, with Tanner instead choosing to stay with his current club.
It now looks like Tanner won’t be making a big move before Monday’s transfer deadline after this shock rejection.
This almost compiles a miserable few days in the transfer market for Tottenham.
Adama Traore rejecting Tottenham for Barcelona was a blow, but you can understand why he wanted to re-join his former club.
Then it was Luis Diaz, who was a top target for Tottenham before Liverpool hijacked the deal and now look set to sign the Colombian.
Failing to sign a non-league player doesn’t look great for Tottenham, but Tanner will want this to be the right move.
Having been in a Premier League academy at Arsenal, felt the blow of being rejected there and then having to start from scratch in non-league, Tanner won’t want the same thing to happen again.
Maybe Tanner didn’t see a real pathway at Tottenham and that’s why he thinks he is better off waiting.
Even if that isn’t the case, you can now guarantee that other clubs will be sniffing around in an attempt to succeed where Tottenham failed.
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