Unsettled: Pennant has made just three Premier League
appearances this season
Liverpool
manager Rafael Benitez is set to tempt Spurs with a
cash-plus-player deal for Aaron Lennon.
Benitez will offer Jermaine Pennant plus £7million for Lennon,
who has apparently attracted interest from Real Madrid in recent
weeks following his startling form under new boss Harry
Redknapp.
Redknapp is a long-term admirer of former Arsenal winger
Pennant, and tried to snare the 25-year-old in the summer while
manager of Portsmouth. And
he has continued to keep tabs on the player and would be interested
in a cut-price deal in January.
Signed in 2006 from Birmingham for £6.7m, Pennant has found
himself out of favour after missing a training session and has only
played three times in the Premier League this season.
Benitez is keen to cash in on Pennant, who has six months left
on his contract at Anfield and could leave the club for free in the
summer. After declining a £4m move to Blackburn,
Newcastle
and Stoke, it is
understood that Benitez is open to offers around £3m for
Pennant.
But Redknapp may accept the swap deal, given the extra cash on
offer - and that Pennant is a ready made replacement for England
international Lennon, report the Daily Mirror.