The monster £43m Tottenham transfer hijack that could break the internet

While Tottenham Hotspur have already pulled off some impressive coups in the transfer market this summer, their ambition doesn’t end at signing Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke – a striker is very much on Roberto De Zerbi’s radar.

With Richarlison expected to leave the club in the coming weeks and Dominic Solanke’s long-term fitness a concern, Spurs have wanted to add another forward to the rotation. Their primary target had been Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi, but the odds of a deal looked distinctly low even before it was reported that the 20-year-old would miss at least three months due to a broken metatarsal.

Just because any faint hopes of signing Kroupi have now been extinguished doesn’t mean that the Plan B is any less ambitious, however – and a new report suggests that they could be readying themselves to battle PSG and Atlético Madrid for a high-profile forward.

Spurs showing transfer interest in Ferran Torres – reports

A new report from TEAMtalk has rekindled a rumour which did the rounds a few times earlier this year – that Tottenham Hotspur were interested in striking a deal for Barcelona forward Torres, whose future is back up in the air just days after he scored the winning goal in the World Cup final.

Barcelona have offered a new contract to the 26-year-old, whose current deal at the Camp Nou expires next summer, but appear to have fallen short of his salary demands thus far – perhaps in part because they would have to pay Manchester City nearly £7m if he renews with Barcelona due to a clause in the transfer agreement which took him to Catalonia in the first place.

With that contract offer unsigned, a few teams have been keeping tabs on Torres’ situation. Reports from Spain have suggested that both PSG and Atlético Madrid are keen, but now Spurs are having their name thrown back into the ring as well.

If Barcelona can’t tie Torres down to an extension, they’re expected to demand around €50m (£43m) for his signature, although their poor negotiating position means that there could easily end up being some wiggle room. Torres may be relatively affordable if he does indeed go up for sale.

There’s no suggestion in the new report that Spurs have yet made a bid for Torres, and TEAMtalk are a gossip website that often miss the target – but they aren’t the first outlet to make the link, and Torres would tick quite a few boxes, not least thanks to his positional versatility which could help him to fill in on the wing while the fitness of players like Xavi Simons and Dejan Kulusevski remains a worry.

Do Spurs have a realistic chance of signing Torres this summer?

As speculative as links with Spurs may still be – and even the stories connecting him with PSG and Atlético remain rumours, even if there are more sources attesting to them – there are plenty of Barcelona fans who would be happy to see their side attempt to upgrade from Torres towards a more natural striker.

The Spaniard primarily played through the middle last season but was distinctly inconsistent, sometimes lacking the physicality required to get the better of the Spanish league’s more rugged centre-halves or the predatory instincts which mark out a genuine number nine.

Still, production wasn’t that much of a problem – Torres scored 16 goals in 33 league appearances, for instance – but for a club spoiled by the likes of Robert Lewandowski more is perhaps expected. For a side like Spurs, trying to claw their way back towards competitiveness, a player like Torres could be a substantive upgrade to the squad.

His own preference appears to be to stay at the Camp Nou, but it’s not clear whether he would rather fold in contract negotiations or leave the club if Barcelona don’t improve their offer. Whether he would be tempted by Spurs’ ambitious, big-spending new project is unclear.

Spurs have other players on their radar – TEAMtalk’s report mentions both Hoffenheim’s Fisnik Asllani and Club Brugge’s Nicolò Tresoldi, players who have been widely reported to be transfer targets for the North London club – and it may be that they’re aware that their chances of signing Torres are slim, but that they see no good reason not to keep tabs and take an optimistic view of the situation. Much stranger transfers have taken place, after all. Who would have foreseen Tonali moving to Tottenham before the window opened?

Spurs will almost certainly give Solanke some competition for the central striker’s role before deadline day in a little over a month, and perhaps Torres is an option of sorts – but it’s likely that they’ll have to look elsewhere eventually.