Tottenham are yet to make a signing for the 2017 summer transfer window, but there has been no shortage of players being linked with a move to the club. The latest names to be linked with a move to Spurs are Ajax stars Joel Veltman and Davy Klaassen, according to the Telegraph.
It is not surprising that Spurs are the latest team to be linked with Ajax stars from the 2016-17 season. The Dutch outfit enjoyed a remarkable campaign in which they finished as the runners-up in the Europa League. Yet, former manager Peter Bosz managed to lead the club to a second-place finish in the Eredivisie and to the finals of the Europa League, where they lost to Manchester United.
However, the departure of the coach after just one season coupled with the club failing to secure automatic Champions League spots has put the future of several players under a lot of doubt. A number of Ajax players, who are in the prime of their careers, have been linked with moves to the Premier League. Even though Spurs did not have the greatest success when signing the last player from Dutch football – Vincent Janssen, it does not appear to have prevented manager Mauricio Pochettino from looking at more players who ply their trade in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Davy Klaassen is a 24-year-old attacking midfielder who was clearly one of the best players at the club last season. He came up with an incredible 14 goals and nine assists in 33 league appearances. The Europa League, though, would be a much more accurate depiction of his quality. Even here, he managed to fare reasonably well after scoring two goals and creating an assist in the 13 appearances.
Spurs will have to stump up a huge transfer fee in order to sign the attacking midfielder, as Ajax are not ready to sell the player on the cheap – despite the player only having two years left on his contract. It is expected that he would cost in the region of £26 million.
Another transfer target appears to be Joel Veltman, who might be the replacement for Kyle Walker. Manchester City are widely expected to come in with an official offer for the England international in the next few weeks, and Walker seems to have made up his mind to move to the Etihad Stadium. Veltman is a right back who has just 12 months left on his contract. At just 25 years of age, the £8million rated defender clearly has the best years of football ahead of him. Last season, Veltman was a solid player making 44 appearances in all competitions.