Over the weekend emerged a few reports (from very dubious sources) that Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr had had a £20m bid for Tottenham Hotspur’s Emerson Royal knocked back. Those reports were apparently accurate, as it is now being confirmed by Dan Kilpatrick in the Evening Standard.
Kilpatrick confirms the initial bid, calls it “derisory” (noting that Spurs bought Emerson for £25.8m from Barcelona a couple years ago), and writes that Spurs immediately rejected it. As they should’ve! But he also brings up an interesting possibility — that Al-Nassr might be reading a second bid this month, and that if it’s large enough they might just be tempted to sell.
I don’t think this is especially likely. Tottenham are only now just coming out of an incredibly awful injury crisis that forced Emerson to play at central defense because there was nobody else who was ready. Emerson isn’t an exact fit for Ange-Ball and I can see a scenario where Spurs flip him somewhere this coming summer if they can get a better replacement in. That said, selling Emerson, a key rotation piece and known glue-guy, when Spurs are still a couple of injuries away from disaster, feels a little insane and I doubt it happens unless the Saudi PIF really opens their pocketbook. And even then it’d feel a bit gross.
Elsewhere in transfer-land it’s more of the same — Spurs continue to be “in negotiations” with Club Brugge for Antonio Nusa, and Spurs are putting Pierre Hojbjerg in the shop window, but only permanently, not at Rent-A-Center. What seems clear is that although Spurs got their business done early in the window, that doesn’t mean we couldn’t see more transfers get done before the end of the month.