Two reasons why Tottenham could ‘pull the plug’ on striker deal as Postecoglou issues transfer update

Joe Williams
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou with Dominic Solanke and Liam Delap
Ange Postecoglou could choose to replace Dominic Solanke with Liam Delap.

Tottenham are still reportedly interested in signing Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap as Ange Postecoglou gave a Spurs transfer update on Friday.

The Spurs players and Postecoglou were booed and jeered by their own supporters on Sunday after they lost 3-2 to Everton at Goodison Park with Tottenham 3-0 down at half-time.

There were rumours afterwards on social media and elsewhere that Postecoglou could face the sack but widespread reports indicate that he will stay at Tottenham for now.

The Spurs boss, who guided his side to a 3-2 win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League group stage on Thursday, has had to deal with a huge injury crisis, especially in his backline with Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie among the players currently missing.

Dominic Solanke missed the trip to Germany to face Hoffenheim on Thursday and Postecoglou confirmed after the match that he will miss around six weeks. The Tottenham boss said: “With Dom, the information now is around the six-week mark with him.”

That has seen Spurs ramp up their interest in bringing in a new striker in the January transfer window with Ipswich Town’s Delap on their wishlist.

Delap has provided eight goals and two assists in 21 Premier League appearances for the Tractor Boys this term with Kieran McKenna’s side in the relegation zone.

And TEAMtalk claim that Tottenham are ‘still desperate to sign another striker this month and are continuing to chase’ for Delap before the transfer deadline.

However, it is understood that ‘two issues’ in particular could see Spurs ‘pull the plug’ on a potential transfer for the Ipswich striker.

Our friends at TEAMtalk add:

‘The obstacle to an agreement is that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy isn’t willing to overpay for any player and is reluctant to join a battle for Delap that could see his price ramp up.

‘Ipswich also have no desire to sell the talented forward this month so that may be the roadblock as they will demand a premium fee for a mid-season sale.’

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And now Postecoglou has issued a transfer update about finding a potential replacement for Solanke with the Tottenham boss insisting “nothing’s changed in the last 24 hours”.

Postecoglou said at his pre-match press conference on Friday: “All those things are known, nothing’s changed in the last 24 hours.

“We knew with Dom probably a few days back, I had a press conference in the meantime, so all these things are known.”

When asked about injuries and mentality of his Tottenham group, Postecoglou added: “We should have light at the end of the tunnel in a couple of weeks, it’s not as dire but at the same time there’s always a possibility that before those guys come back we might lose a couple of these guys [current players in form].

“That’s always the challenging bit, that’s what we’re going through.

“It’s been two months of hard grind for the players, just trying to support them as much as we can. Our schedule is not going to ease up at all.

“The resilience and the determination of the players to get out there and perform is a fantastic thing for me to witness, couldn’t be more proud of them.”