Tottenham had a last-ditch £5million offer for Michy Batshuayi rejected by Chelsea, according to a reliable journalist.
Sven Claes, a correspondent for Belgian publication van Het Belang van Limburg, reported on his personal Twitter account late on deadline day that the north Londoners tried to win the loan race for the Belgium international.
Claes broke the news that Batshuayi was heading to Crystal Palace before the eleventh-hour deal was announced after he terminated his loan spell at Spanish club Valencia.
Official announcement will be within 30 minutes. Ooh, and nice to know for my followers: Chelsea rejected a £5M loan offer for Michy Batshuayi from Spurs. #THFC #CPFC #CFC
— Sven Claes (@svenclaes) January 31, 2019
OPINION
Batshuayi has terminated a miserable loan spell at Valencia, but it is easy to see why so many clubs were vying for his signature on deadline day. None were willing to pay the massive transfer fee demanded by Chelsea, who were looking for a profit on the £33.2million they spent to take him from Marseille in 2016. The striker’s suitors – who also reportedly included Everton and West Ham – felt Batshuayi’s recent form made that too much of a risk, but he represented a logical loan acquisition. The man who has scored goals at a decent lick at clubs in Belgium, France, England and Germany – he was especially prolific at Borussia Dortmund last season – is a penalty box poacher who’s knack of knowing where to be at the right time means Palace could have made a real coup. With countryman Christian Benteke a shadow of his former self, Batshuayi is capable of immediately invigorating an attack overly reliant upon the brilliance of Wilfried Zaha.