Tottenham target ex-Fulham star in £132.2m bid to ‘overhaul spine’ despite legal threat

Will Ford
Brighton vs Fulham - Manor Solomon celebrates his goal

Tottenham are targeting an attacking midfielder, goalkeeper, central defender and young winger as they look to ‘overhaul the spine’ of Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is prepared to back his new manager with four additions this summer after they already secured the permanent signing of Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus, according to Express.

James Maddison is their top playmaker target though they are a long way off Leicester’s reported £55m valuation of the England international given they offered £50m for him and Harvey Barnes.

Brentford’s David Raya is their first choice to replace Hugo Lloris, who is expected to leave the club, but the Bees are holding firm on his £40m price tag despite personal terms being agreed and the Spaniard pushing for the exit.

Reports on Thursday claim they’ve moved for an alternative and have verbally agreed a £17.2m deal with Empoli for Guglielmo Vicario.

In terms of defensive targets the player at the top of their wishlist is thought to be Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba, though Fabrizio Romano claimed last month that a ‘huge bid’ would be required to land the Burkino Faso international, who’s also on Arsenal’s radar.

Romano tweeted: ‘Premier League clubs are now tracking Edmond Tapsoba ahead of the summer transfer window — he’s one of the CBs to keep an eye on.

‘Arsenal and Tottenham scouts have monitored Tapsoba in recent games but the race is absolutely open — Bayer will only sell for huge bid.’

Reports suggest that ‘huge bid’ would need to be around £60m.

Other than Barnes, Spurs are also thought to be keen on Manor Solomon – who thrived on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk at Fulham last season – to provide competition on the wing.

But Shakhtar chief executive Sergei Palkin has threatened to sue Spurs if they try to sign Solomon – whose contract expires in December – on a free transfer.

Solomon suspended his contract with Shakhtar following the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine, in a move granted by FIFA, who allowed foreign nationals employed in either country to unilaterally suspend their contracts if they wished to leave the region.

FIFA recently announced that Annex 7 – which allows those suspensions – would be extended through to the summer of 2024, prompting a furious backlash from several clubs affected.

And Palkin warned Spurs they will also face legal action if they attempt to exploit the situation to their advantage, with the chief predicting that if the rule is not amended they could lose up to €80m in transfer fees.

“I contacted Solomon and his agent and invited him back to our club,” Palkin told ESPN. “I said ‘you can play all the games in Champions League, you will be in the starting eleven’ but he doesn’t want to move and I believe he will stay in England.

“Finally, where he will go, I don’t know. In any case, if you go to Tottenham, we will deal with Tottenham in court in this case. Everything comes to a simple situation: it sounds like unjust enrichment.

“Can you imagine, we pay big money for this player and finally Tottenham receives him for free? It is not fair in respect of our club. We will definitely go to court and we will fight for ourselves.”

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