Tottenham wise to snub Michy Batshuayi

Tottenham will continue their search for a striker to support Harry Kane after smartly passing on Michy Batshuayi

Tottenham’s chase for striking support for Harry Kane will have to carry on without Marseille front man Michy Batshuayi. Daniel Levy and company are wisely going to move on to other striking targets after hitting a snag in negotiations with the talented Ligue 1 striker.

The Mirror reports that the Belgian ace is demanding a contract that would pay him 100,000 pounds per week in order to make the switch to North London. That would put him at the top of the Tottenham wage scale alongside the likes of Mousa Dembele and Hugo Lloris.

At that price, Tottenham are wise to search elsewhere for a striker to provide cover for Harry Kane. Combining those sort of wages with the expected transfer fee in excess of 30 million pounds just makes a deal for Batshuayi bad business. He’s a talented striker, but he hasn’t proven nearly enough at this stage in his career to justify that sort of investment.

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Tottenham are also in the fortunate position to still have quite a few striker prospects still on their radar. In particular, reports linking Spurs with Victor Janssen have intensified as of late and that sort of deal would only require Tottenham to shell out 12 million pounds for his services. He may not have quite the upside or reputation that Batshuayi possesses, but the difference between the two isn’t that great.

Some Spurs fans may be tempted to react negatively to the news that Tottenham has been priced out of a move for Batshuayi. Levy has been justifiably criticized for failing to back his managers’ with funds in the past, but that’s not what this is about. This is about Levy, in consultation with manager Mauricio Pochettino, making the decision that Batshuayi just isn’t worth the investment his club and his agents are requiring.

If Tottenham are truly interested in laying out that sort of cash for an attacking player, they’d be better served to add a world-class attacking midfielder. The potential addition of someone like Dortmund attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Palermo’s Franco Vazquez could be comfortably completed for that sort of price.

For a transfer fee in excess of 30 million pounds, Spurs need to bring in a player who is going to be an unquestioned member of the starting 11. Batshuayi’s lack of pedigree and the presence of Harry Kane as the club’s unquestioned number nine make that impossible for the Marseille man.

Tottenham’s search for another striker will march on without Michy Batshuayi. This isn’t a blow for Spurs’ transfer policy though, it’s a smart move by an ownership that’s looking to back Pochettino with efficient investments in the right players.

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