I thought this was a super happy fun story when I came across it late last night, 'Murrica time! Apparently, while in the midst of enjoying the Olympics and moving things out of my apartment, I missed the Daily Star's story about Tottenham Hotspur being interested in Joe Allen, who might be available for a reasonable price. I know it's the Star, and therefore almost certainly not credible in the slightest, but shut up. This is fun. The transfer window exists for funsies.
They claim that he has a release clause of just £10m for clubs not called the old big four or Manchester City. This seems like a really insane and nonsensical thing to have written into a contract, but who's going to call the Star on this?
Setanta, whose main revenue stream seems to be transfer rumor hits now that most of their television subscriber base is gone, is perpetuating this Allen-to-Spurs rumor. They claim that Liverpool has already had a bid rejected and that Spurs are going to pull off yet another hijack move.
Honestly, this isn't terribly out of the question, considering that Tottenham could certainly use Allen if Luka Modric leaves. Unlike all of the foreign players that English tabloids link Spurs to, he actually plays the same position as Modric and could slot into the midfield nicely.
However, we don't have it on any kind of decent authority that Tottenham are or have ever been interested in Allen. No reliable publications or prominent journalists have informed us that Andre Villas-Boas, Tim Sherwood or Daniel Levy has any kind of serious interest in him, and it's obvious that Brendan Rodgers is very interested in reuniting with one of his star players from last season at Swansea. I'd like to see Allen in a Spurs shirt, but nothing about these rumors passes the smell test.
Not a member of Cartilage Free Captain? Sign up below and start commenting. Everyone here is super fun. Check us out on social media for updates when we update as well.