Chinese club Beijing Guoan have not been in touch with Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele, according to their CEO Li Ming.
His words were quoted by prominent Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur on Wednesday on his personal Twitter account.
However, Terreur did follow up and say that there was an offer on the table for Dembele.
This comes after Sky Sports had reported that an offer of £9million had been accepted by Tottenham from the Chinese club.
The denial from China. Beijing Guoan CEO Li Ming in an interview with Beijing News: "Guoan haven't been in touch with Mousa Dembele." Admitted that they are working on signing new players. #THFC #COYS pic.twitter.com/LxQSI6BKQx
— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) January 9, 2019
There is an offer on the table, though. #THFC
— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) January 9, 2019
OPINION
Is this just Li Ming just giving a politician’s answer to a question? You would assume that the club had contacted the player or his agent, if an offer has been accepted. if not, then it’s entirely possible Beijing have put an offer on the table for the player and are waiting for it to be accepted. Terreur doesn’t stipulate that the offer has been accepted by Spurs, just that it’s been put in. The next stage would be agreeing terms with the player and that could be a potential hitch in the deal. It’s not going to happen unless Dembele wants to go and the terms are right. Of course, Ming might be being slightly duplicitous and saying they’ve had no contact with the player when they’ve actually been talking to his agent. That wouldn’t really make much sense though, unless something has been lost in translation. It’s a potentially interesting development.