Tottenham may have seriously hurt Arsenal’s transfer plan while costing them £40m
Arsenal are expected to find it hard to land Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, partly down to what Tottenham Hotspur have done this window.
Spurs have significantly strengthened their squad this summer in an aim to close the gap with the likes of Man City and Arsenal after finishing 17th two seasons in a row.
The Lilywhites have splashed the cash to do so, having broken their transfer record twice, the latest of which was on Sandro Tonali, who they paid £100m to sign from Newcastle.
Tonali has been criticised for his decision to join a side which finished 17th last season, but the deal may have severely hampered the Lilywhites’ fiercest rivals.
Tottenham’s Sandro Tonali signing is making Arsenal’s Bruno Guimaraes pursuit difficult
The Telegraph have now claimed that Newcastle are adamant that they do not want to sell another one of their star players after losing Tonali and Anthony Gordon this window.
This has made it difficult for the Gunners to prise away Guimaraes, who is keen on moving to the Emirates Stadium this summer.
The report claims that Newcastle sources have described reports that they could accept £60m for the Brazilian as ‘farcical’, and they believe the player would accept their decision to reject any offers of that size.
The Magpies are expected to demand a similar price to the £100m Spurs paid for Tonali. The outlet adds that internally at Arsenal, there have always been doubts over whether they can get Guimaraes this summer for the fee they are willing to pay.
Why Spurs pulled off a masterstroke by completing big deals early
If Tottenham had dragged their feet a bit in the negotiations, it is very much possible that they could have got Tonali and Fernandes for slightly lower fees.
However, by doing that, they would have been risking others hijacking the deals, and having finished 17th last season, the Lilywhites had to pay up to avoid risking losing out on their targets.
What Spurs have also done by spending big on two midfielders early in the window is inflate the midfielder market, making it very difficult for their Premier League rivals to afford deals for their top targets.
The fact that Man United have decided to sign Andrey Santos from Chelsea rather than the likes of Alex Scott and Adam Wharton could well be down to Tottenham inflating the market for top midfielders.
