United contact Tottenham over
striker Defoe
Manchester United want to sign Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe and
will use defender Wes Brown and the offer of £10million as bait to
get their man. It is understood United chief executive David Gill
has rung Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to ask if the England
international is for sale.
Defoe has 18 months left on his contract and even though he insists
he wants to stay at the club, he has yet to sign a new deal. Levy,
who is also facing a fight to keep striker Dimitar Berbatov after
the player's agent claimed he wanted to quit the club, is concerned
Defoe could emulate former Tottenham defender Sol Campbell by
letting his contract run down and then leave on a free
transfer.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, a big admirer of Defoe, is
looking to sign another forward due to concerns over Louis Saha's
fitness. Much of the talk has been of United wanting Berbatov, who
scored four goals in the 6-4 win over Reading on Saturday, during
the transfer window. But it is believed the Bulgaria international
will stay until the end of the season, despite his agent Emil
Dantchev claiming the striker wants to leave White Hart Lane.
Levy has put out a statement insisting the club are not looking to
sell their star players. He said: "Once again for the record, we
are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When
we have players on long contracts, we have no need to entertain
offers." But the latter does not apply to Defoe and an offer of
£10m will tempt Levy to cash in on the 25-year-old, with England
defender Brown - who has refused to sign a new four-year deal at
Old Trafford - possibly going the other way.
Spurs manager Juande Ramos is looking to sign two defenders and
scouts from the club were at Ajax's game at Venlo yesterday to
watch Urby Emanuelson in action. Spurs, who have already had a
£5.5m bid turned down, see him as a good addition to the squad,
especially amid fears that Gareth Bale is struggling to return
before the end of the season due to a foot injury.
