On the latest episode of The View from the Lane podcast, Athletic journalists Jack Pitt-Brooke, James Maw, and Charlie Eccleshare have been discussing the latest on-goings at the North London club. This included a discussion about Manchester United forward Anthony Martial, with Eccleshare suggesting he was on Spurs’ radar.
Eccleshare recently wrote an article, alongside Jack Lang, on some of the notable players the Lilywhites have been close to signing in recent years. This list included Manchester United winger Anthony Martial, with the North London club said to have been actively pursuing the Frenchman during his time with AS Monaco.
This led to a discussion about the topic of ‘nearly signings’ on the recent The View from the Lane podcast, with Eccleshare talking through some of the big names that the Lilywhites could have signed.
Here’s what the Athletic journalist said:
“Guys like Martial and Mbappe were on their radar and they really wanted to bring in, but it didn’t quite work out like that because once you have Europe’s superclubs sniffing around the prices become prohibitive.
“And especially because Tottenham had the stadium build, they’re just not going to go out and spend the sums required for some of those players.”
TIF Thoughts…
Martial completed a move to Manchester United in 2015 for £36 million, despite being just 19 at the time (per BBC) and later scored on his first appearance for the club in a 3-1 win against Liverpool.
The 2014/15 season had seen the emergence of Harry Kane in Spurs’ starting line-up, as the England captain notched up 21 goals in 34 Premier League appearances (per Transfermarkt), so it is perhaps understandable why the North London club didn’t follow up on their reported interest in Martial.
Do you wish Spurs had signed Martial?
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However, considering that the £43.2m-rated Frenchman has hit 16 goals in all competitions this season, which is just one less than that of Kane, perhaps it would have been worthwhile more actively pursuing a deal to bring him to north London.
Jose Mourinho’s side certainly lacks squad depth when it comes to their strikers, as the Portuguese manager admitted earlier in the season following the injury to Kane. So it would perhaps be fair to suggest that their form wouldn’t have suffered as much if they had had Martial available to fill the role left by the England forward.