OPINION
Tottenham Hotspur reportedly remain interested in a move for Ajax defender Matthijs De Ligt, but the situation looks to be running away from them as competition hots up for his signature.
As reported by football.london, Tottenham have once again been linked with a move for the £50m-rated Netherlands international, but now face intense competition from Barcelona, Manchester City and Manchester United.
The regional football site points out that either one of these clubs could easily blow Tottenham away financially, with the Lilywhites not able to offer the same kind of wages and transfer fee to Ajax.
Another issue is the fact that De Ligt is now represented by super agent Mino Raiola, who is notorious in his ability to get his clients the most lucrative deals possible.
Raiola is seriously unlikely to push De Ligt towards a move to Tottenham when clubs such as Barcelona and Manchester City are also in the hunt.
While Tottenham cannot be ruled out of the running – they have a long line of successful former Ajax players and a manager in Mauricio Pochettino who is renowned for his work with young players – their chances are admittedly looking slim after being dwarfed by their bigger, richer rivals.
One of the biggest annoyances for the club in this situation is the fact that they had a big chance to swoop for the 19-year-old in the summer, but stepped back from making a formal bid.
There was no doubt influence in that decision from chairman Daniel Levy, who is extremely careful with finances, with that being particularly true with the new stadium on the way.
Tottenham are now however set to pay a big price if they do miss out on De Ligt, who would have been the perfect long-term replacement for Toby Alderweireld amid his contract uncertainty.
Levy’s tough negotiation techniques and peculiarities with finance have cost Tottenham on several occasions recently, and failure to land De Ligt will now likely go down as the latest in that long list.