Tottenham Hotspur have been given a transfer boost as Beşiktaş seem to have rejected a £10 million bid from Roma for former Arsenal youngster Oguzhan Ozyakup.
Spurs are believed to be interested in signing the player, who played for Arsenal during his youth days. However, he wasn’t deemed good enough by Arsene Wenger and left the club in 2012 for a paltry fee of £300,000.
He has since developed into a good player and is now on the radar of a lot of top European clubs including Tottenham. Mauricio Pochettino is reportedly a big fan and believes the creative midfielder would add greater depth and quality to his squad. It is thought that £12million would be enough to get the deal done.
The £12 million valuation now seems to be true as a £10million bid from Roma has been rejected. However, it is still unknown as to what amount of money Beşiktaş are expecting for the Turkish international.
All that is known now is that Beşiktaş are keen on holding on to the player. Thus any potential suitor would have to match the club’s evaluation to have a real shot at signing the midfielder. Ozyakup will be entering the final year of his contract next season and the Beşiktaş president has already made it clear that he will be offered a new deal.
The midfielder has scored 4 goals and has provided 6 assists this term and has made 31 appearances for the Turkish club. He has played in the Champions League and Europa League this season and has a goal and an assist to his name in the Europe’s 2nd tier competition.
This should make his profile even more appealing as Tottenham would almost certainly be participating in Champions League next season. Spurs would be looking to add some quality to their squad to deal with the fixture congestion that may arise because of their participation in 4 competitions next season as well.
Pochettino has done well in managing his players this season but signing a couple of quality players in the summer will do no harm and will only increase the competition for places, thus keeping the players motivated to play well.
There is another plus point in signing Ozyakup. The lad being a former Arsenal player, if he manages to up his career at White Hart Lane, it would be such a blow for Arsenal and would indicate the Lilywhites’ intention of challenging Arsenal on all fronts.
Nevertheless, the move looks to be a good prospect and it will be interesting to see if Pochettino decides to bid for the player.