Tottenham must fork out somewhere close to £86million if they want to sign Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso, according to Diario de Sevilla.
An earlier report by AS claimed that Spurs were willing to pay £51.9million to sign the 23-year-old, who scored 16 goals and had a hand in six others while on loan at the La Liga side last term.
According to the Spanish outlet, however, the North London club were immediately rebuffed after submitting that initial bid, with Betis – who activated the option to buy Lo Celso following his temporary move from Paris Saint-Germain – raising his release clause to £86million.
The report also claims that Betis are intent on keeping Lo Celso for at least a year of his four-year stay, but realise that it will be difficult to keep the midfield after that without the promise of European football.
OPINION
This is bad news for Spurs fans. The report from Diario de Sevilla adds that Mauricio Pochettino is wary that Christian Eriksen has had interest from Real Madrid and could be off after the Champions League final. If Eriksen does go, they need to sign a replacement desperately. But if this report is true, you can bet your bottom dollar that Spurs will not go back for him if he is going to cost £86million. Unless Spurs can raise some funds from somewhere, it is likely that the £51.9million the club were said to have bid is going to be the highest they are prepared to go. Having said that, now that the new stadium is built and there is a bit more stability at Spurs, Daniel Levy could really throw the gauntlet down and allow Pochettino to splash out the money required to get Lo Celso. It would be a big gamble, but Spurs are going to have to gamble if they lose Eriksen.