Another player Tottenham missed on.
Daniel Levy’s attempt to stop Liverpool from signing Luis Diaz failed in spectacular fashion after he tried to report the Reds’ recruitment staff’s tactics to the club’s owners.
Tottenham Hotspur were in pole position to sign the Colombian from FC Porto but at the eleventh hour, Liverpool hijacked the move and announced his arrival on Sunday.
We have completed the signing of Luis Diaz from FC Porto, subject to the successful granting of a work permit and international clearance ✍️😄 #VamosLuis
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 30, 2022
The Telegraph report that Levy was first made aware of Liverpool’s pursuit of Diaz on Thursday – by which time, they were well ahead in their negotiations.
Infuriated at being ‘backdoored’ by Liverpool and the fact that Spurs were going to miss out on another high-profile target, Levy threatened to report Liverpool’s recruitment team to Fenway owners John W Henry and Mike Gordon.
However, despite his attempts, it turns out that Henry and Gordon were delighted with their staff’s efforts – especially since it culminated in them actually signing Diaz.
It is not the first time the two clubs have locked horns over transfer targets – Clint Dempsey, Danny Ings, Sadio Mané and Gini Wijnaldum, among others, have all been the subject of battles between Spurs and Liverpool in the transfer market. Notably, most of these players tend to end up at Anfield.
This is the second time that Spurs have missed out on a key target this window after Adama Traoré rejoined Barcelona on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Despite this, director of football Fabio Paratici looks set to secure the first two signings of the Antonio Conte era, going back to former club Juventus to complete the deals.
Winger Dejan Kulusevski is close to joining on loan with an obligation to buy in the region of €40m which could become mandatory if they qualify for the Champions League.
Seems like Spurs' transfer strategy now solely consists of Paratici phoning his old employers to see who they're willing to sell, which is unlikely to work in the long term
Still, can't argue with signing these two in a double swoop mid-season pic.twitter.com/QYtdVmk3oN
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) January 30, 2022
Rodrigo Bentacur also looks close to coming to the Premier League too with Juve on the verge of securing Denis Zakaria as a replacement.
