TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS MANAGER Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed that the Premier League side were in talks with Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala over the signing of Brazilian attacking midfielder Willian.
According to British media reports, Willian arrived in London on Tuesday and Spurs are hoping to complete a move for him by the weekend.
Speaking during a media conference ahead of Tottenham’s Europa League play-off first leg away to Georgian club Dinamo Tbilisi on Thursday, Villas-Boas admitted that negotiations were under way.
“I can’t really confirm anything regarding Willian. There is interest in the player and there have been conversations,” said the Portuguese, in comments widely reported in the British media.
Willian, 25, only joined Anzhi from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in January, but he is being moved on after the Russian club’s billionaire owner Suleiman Kerimov decided to restructure the club and drastically shrink their budget.
Reports in the British media claim Spurs are prepared to break their transfer record for the third time during the current transfer window by paying Anzhi £30 million (€35 million) to secure Willian’s services.
The north London club paid £17 million to sign Brazilian midfielder Paulinho from Corinthians before parting with a reported fee of £26 million to bring Spain striker Roberto Soldado to White Hart Lane from Valencia.
The move for Willian would take Spurs’ total spending in the transfer window to around £90 million, but they are reportedly poised to sell star forward Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world-record fee in excess of £80 million.
Bale has not made the trip to Georgia for Thursday’s game because of a foot injury and, according to Football Italia, Spurs chief Franco Baldini is in Madrid to the discuss the final details of his move with Fabio Coentrao believed to be coming in the opposite direction and Roma’s Erik Lamela also lined up.
Spurs, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season, opened the new campaign with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Decent player. Played v well against Chelsea in champions league. £30m is a bit much though. Sign of the times choosing Spurs ahead of Liverpool.
2 caps for brazil at age of 25! And was in and out of his club team last year! A bit over valued maybe?
Brazilian caps not really an indication of quality to be fair. Fernandiniho is 28 and has 5 caps. Brazil tend to pick home based players more
He didnt choose spurs over liverpool. Liverpool wouldn’t pay his agent 5 million quid, spurs would. Its thst simple. Liverpool should be commended for learning from past mistakes. Good signing for spurs
He didn’t choose spurs over lpool a lot of misinformed people, Liverpool refused to pay the extra money and a fee was not agreed! The minute something negative happens against lpool everyone jumps on the bandwagon!! 30 million is far too much for this guy and fsg don’t want to get burnt again
Liverpool don’t need him as much as spurs that’s why they didn’t pay over the odds that is not really proven no one heard of him till now he is 25
Some of the players that Tottenham have both have actually played better than bale over the last few seasons…. It’s absolute madness by Madrid
80 million is,madness. Bale is very injury prone. Ronaldo is rarely injured.
It shows that Levy is willing to strengthen the squad ahead of Bale’s imminent departure. Bale will be a big loss but if AVB signs Willian and Roma’s Lavela on top of the already good players they have signed then Spurs will be genuine title contenders this season.
Alright calm down
Willian looks like a block buster signing. If they sign Eric Lamela all spurs fans will dance in the streets. He looks like an absolute superstar in the making. It means for definite that Bale is sold. Although he can’t be replaced, the team as a whole looks stronger on the back of the players they’ve bought off his (frankly absurd) transfer fee. Lamela will take lennon’s place, Willian will play just behind Soldado as a creative no 10. That is a fabulous prospect for anyone who enjoys watching entertaining attacking football, Spurs fans or not. The only thing to keep in mind is that this is a collection of fantastic players, doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll make a brilliant team. If they do gel, there could be fireworks!
Bale goes to Madrid, Torres comes back to United, United sign Fellaini. Grand.
Presume you meant Torres back to Liverpool
Great signing for Spurs. They are going to hard to keep out of the top 4, still squad is too small to win the PL I think.
Spurs need at least one more striker and a left back but I’m glad AVB is given the money to spend. Spurs are backing him all the way after he turned down leaving them in the Summer.
You have to wonder where Madrid will fit Bale in. Ronaldo prefers to play out on the left rather than a central role. Plus with Alonso injured and only Benzema and Morata perhaps they need an out and out striker more. Should have gone for Falcao.
Spurs title contenders… young fellas a tit…