Tottenham have been put on red alert after the entry of Chelsea into the negotiations to bring in Monaco winger Bernardo Silva. The Premier league leaders have made it a priority to bring in a marquee signing in the summer. They have sold number of stars over the summer and in January. However, manager Antonio Conte sanctioned the sales of players like Branislav Ivanovic, John obi Mikel, and Oscar largely because he did not feel the need to have a big squad at a time when the club was not involved in European competitions.
Next season will be different with Chelsea’s return to the Champions League all but certain given their form in the league. The blues have an eight point advantage over Manchester City in the second spot and are the favourites to win the title. On the other hand, Tottenham have been looking at Silva as a potential option to replace Erik Lamela, who is widely expected to join Roma in the summer.
Even though Lamela has not featured much, he continues to remain an important part of the Tottenham set-up. Replacing him will be crucial for the club.
Silva has been one of the best players in the French league this season. Valued at £68.4 million (via The Times) by the French club, it remains to be seen if Tottenham will be able to afford this extravagant transfer fee at a time when they are spending more than £700 million on a new stadium. Chelsea’s transfer budget will be considerably high after securing £60 million from the sale of Oscar and the wage bill being freed by the departures of John obi Mikel and Branislav Ivanovic.
Bernardo Silva was brought in from Benfica in the summer of 2015 for around €15 million. Since then, he has gone on to be an important player for Monaco, but not as much as this season. The player has contributed a stunning six goals and seven assists in just 25 league appearances. It has helped Monaco storm to the top of the French league table ahead of Paris St Germain. One of the major reasons for Monaco being in a strong position to demand such an extravagant transfer fee is that the player still has more than three years left on his current contract.
