This may or may not be good news depending on your current state of mind, how you feel or want to feel about the current Tottenham Hotspur team and how much time is left in the transfer window. But this is interesting, so I’m writing it down. There have been reports in the media, most notably from Alfredo Pedulla, that Tottenham were interested and in fact negotiating for 28-year-old Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta. According to Sky’s Michael Bridge, those rumors were misplaced.
Look, I’m not a psychologist, so I guess you can feel relieved or upset depending on how you interpreted the Rorschach test, i.e. the Tottenham Hotspur transfer rumours. Mateta is 28 years old and has actually been quite good for Palace this season (and past seasons) after a slow start. Tottenham could also use a new attacker, especially with constant rumors linking Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani leaving the club this month.
Advertisement
I was open to the idea, but Pedulla in particular is one of those online sources where you read their reports and think “Hmm, I think I’ll wait for David Ornstein.” That’s why I haven’t written about this yet: it’s just not a reliable source. Now, Sky isn’t exactly Tier 1 for transfer news, but Michael Bridge is a real reporter with real sources close to England clubs, so I’m inclined to believe this. It also suggests that the Pedulla rumors probably came from Mateta’s agent trying to create a fake bidding war for him to move to another club this month; Mateta was also linked with a move to Nottingham Forest this month.
So this is where your interpretation will come into play and affect how you feel about it. I’m guessing that most of you will fall into one of these few camps: those who were okay with this happening and are upset that now it probably won’t happen, those who weren’t okay with this happening and are now relieved that it probably won’t happen, and those who were prepared to be mad at Tottenham no matter what, but especially now because it means they won’t sign another player, even one who might not be a good fit.
So choose your champion and tell them in the comments. Meanwhile, the window closes on February 2 and credible reports on incoming players have mostly dried up. That doesn’t mean Johan Lange and the departing Fabio Paratici don’t have a couple of rabbits they can pull out of their hat that’s currently hidden in an air-gapped black box beneath Tottenham’s training ground, but it’s all we have to go on for now.
Also, continue to be skeptical of transfer rumors, especially those that come from Italian sources and seem strange.