United Persistence Meets Tottenham Resistance

Manchester United may have landed Romelu Lukaku recently and the Belgian forward has already got off to the ideal start with a goal against Real Salt Lake last night but that does not mean that is the last piece of business that the Old Trafford outfit are looking to carry out this summer.

There has been much mileage in whether or not Ivan Perisic will be joining the club from Inter Milan, it is a deal that has been on and off more often than a light bulb at present with even Jose Mourinho saying that he has no idea on the status of the deal.

But one other piece of gossip that refuses to die down as of late is United’s interest in Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier – after reported offers of £40m and £50m have been rebuffed the Europa League winners are set to try their luck with one final bid of £60m.

Although as persistent as United have been they have met a wall of resistance from Tottenham and that is not something that is set to crumble any time soon. In this instance where I write Tottenham you should obviously read Daniel Levy.

The Spurs chairman has made it adamantly clear that they are not prepared to sell any more of their star players after the departure of Kyle Walker to Manchester City last week and it was Pep Guardiola who was told not to push his luck when inquiring about the availability of Danny Rose as well.

And it is the same message that the red half of Manchester will receive when they once again look to land the versatile Dier. United will feel that they can exploit a potential weakness in that now one player has left the Tottenham shop then others could follow.

But even if that was the case, quite simply Daniel Levy is not prepared to a deal and has already told his United counterpart Ed Woodward this on many occasions. Tottenham are in a position of strength where they do not need to sell and they certainly will not want to sell.

The only thing that could turn the head of Eric Dier and this is something I’ve mentioned before is the fact that he could have his wages doubled overnight. That in any walk of life is tempting and it is no different in the world of football, it is arguably even more so.

But with Tottenham insistent that no-one else is following Kyle Walker out of what I guess is now temporarily the Wembley exit door it does ask the question as to whether this is a deal that can get any further than the back pages or the computer monitors.

The only scenario where I can envisage this happening is if Dier himself was to hand in a transfer request and angle for a move away from his current employers. That is something I cannot see happening unless United somehow unsettle the player using some underhanded techniques.

For a club like Tottenham it is always concerning to see their players linked elsewhere as the worse case scenario is that big names leave there by weakening Spurs and strengthening what would be viewed as potential title rivals but it is also a measure of just how far they have come.

To have some many players linked with a move away is flattering really and shows just how much talent that Mauricio Pochettino has at his disposal and it is probably the unenviable position of having to quell rumour after rumour.

But at the same time that is just part and parcel of being a modern day Premier Leaguue manager especially at this time of year when we reached the journalistic silly season (which to be fair without this I would have nothing to write about) so although Tottenham fans probably won’t enjoy seeing Eric Dier continually linked with a move away there is no reason to worry either.