Saturday 19 July 2008

LEVY MAKES A STAND - BUT STAR DUO SET TO LEAVE

Tottenham have reported Manchester United and Liverpool to the Premier League for allegedly tapping up star strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.

In a sensational statement on the club's website Daniel Levey labelled the behaviour of both clubs 'disgraceful.'

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed United have made a bid for Berbatov and is confident the deal will go through.

Levy held no punches in his response, calling his actions:

"A blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players."

"It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

"This comes after a series of events, dating back to last summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of Premier League rules."

"As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Manchester United.

"Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the Premier League about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.

"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player.

"Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of Premier League rules of conduct.

Despite insisting the club do not want to sell the pair, he conceded Spurs' position has been comprimised:

"When a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence.

"This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.

Berbatov's desire to leave for Manchester United has long since been known by the Spurs' faithful, but Levy's admission that vice captain Keane wants to leave comes less than two months after the Irishman insisted he wanted to stay at Spurs.

He said: "I’m very content with my life and my time at Spurs. I want to play there as long as I’m happy and as long as I’m wanted."

In response to the allegations United published a statement:

"We are aware of the allegation and will co-operate with the Premier League as necessary."

Monday 14 July 2008

TRANSFER UPDATE

If the newspapers are to be believed, Tottenham could lose all three of their strikers before the start of the season, with the Dimitar Berbatov to Manchester United story refusing to go away, and the ineffective Darren Bent linked with moves to Everton or Sunderland.

But its the news that Liverpool are interested in vice captain and talisman Robbie Keane that has come as a shock to Spurs' fans - with Rafa Benitez apparently trying to use the funds raised through the sale of Peter Crouch to Portsmouth, and the imminent departure of Scott Carson to secure a deal for the Republic of Ireland captain and record goalscorer.

That would leave Spurs in desperate need to bring in new options up front, with Luis Garcia one of several players linked with a move. The signing of David Bentley to give Aaron Lennon competition for a right-wing berth seems likely to happen in the next few weeks, to go along with the signings of Croatian star Luka Modric, talented Mexican Giovanni Dos Santos and, subject to a work permit, former-PSV Eindhoven goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

Meanwhile a whole host of players, including Paul Robinson, Younnes Kaboul, Anthony Gardner, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque and Kevin Prince Boateng could be offloaded as Juande Ramos looks to clear out the deadwood and raise funds for his own targets ahead of his first full season in charge.

The gut feeling among Spurs fans is that Keane will stay, although his Bulgarian strike partner probably won't. If Keane was to go, a high profile striker like Valencia's David Villa would help to reduce any backlash from the White Hart Lane faithful.

Whatever happens, it looks set to be a busy few weeks down at N17, and the squad could look very different come August 16th.