Tottenham and Newcastle United have held talks in London this week about signing Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun, according to Haberturk.
The Turkish news outlet claim that Besiktas’ president Fikrit Orman attended a WyScout seminar in London this week, and representatives from Newcastle and Spurs took the opportunity to speak a possible January deal for Tosun.
This comes after Aksam News reported at the end of last month that Rafael Benitez’s team had tabled a £17.7million bid for Tosun.
Aksam News report that Besiktas’ president Fikrit Orman has slapped a £20million valuation on Tosun, which leaves Newcastle just £2.5million short of a deal.
The 23-time-capped Turkey international has scored 10 goals in 15 appearances across all competitions this season after netting 24 in 47 matches in 2016-17.
Good move for Tottenham?
Tosun fits the profile of the type of striker who Tottenham usually target, although, at 26, he is a couple of years older than the rising stars they tend to prefer. Tosun has an increasingly impressive record at Besiktas, where he scored 24 in all competitions last season, and plenty of Champions League experience. Spurs’ need is not all that pressing as they have Harry Kane and his deputy Fernando Llorente, but the Spaniard is 32 and the club will have one eye on the future.
This Is Futbol rating 6/10
Likely to happen?
Turkish reports can usually be taken with a huge dose of salt but there has been enough Tosun-Spurs speculation in recent months to suggest the English club’s interest is genuine. The January window is a few months away, but the Londoners appear to be putting in the groundwork on this deal. There is competition from Newcastle, but if their takeover does not happen by the time the winter window opens, Tottenham would be confident of winning the race for the striker if they want him enough.
This Is Futbol rating 4/10