:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/7572072/146935523.jpg)
Here's a transfer rumor I certainly didn't see coming. According to Duncan Castles, Tottenham Hotspur have already made a bid for Rennes and France midfielder Yann M'Vila. The defensive midfielder has been linked to Arsenal for quite a while, and he's recently established himself as first choice for France.
His stellar play has elevated a very average Rennes side to the top half of the table in France, and there's no doubt that he's good enough for a Sky Six team in the Premier League. According to Castles, the bid Tottenham have made is €12m. If any team gets him for less than €20m, it's a steal.
This rumor is also being pushed by Setanta, who calls him a Modric replacement because I guess whoever writes their transfer rumor pieces knows nothing about football. They quote Rennes chairman Frederic de Saint-Semin as saying that M'Vila "has a very concrete offer from England."
On a scale of one to complete nonsense, this falls under the "probably rubbish" category, but it's certainly not inconceivable. There's obviously an excellent chance that Andre Villas-Boas doesn't think a ton of Scott Parker, and that he wasn't the least bit impressed by the exploits of Jermaine Jenas, Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone during preseason. M'Vila could probably find a spot in Villas-Boas' team right now, even with Sandro coming back.
However, this certainly isn't an immediate need, and as far as we know, Tottenham is still a club of limited means. We're not a poor club, but we probably only have so much money to spend, and we don't have a striker yet. We need a couple of them. I'm not comfortable going into September 1st with what we have + Emmanuel Adebayor, even though it looks like that's what we're going to get. My faith in AVB, Tim Sherwood and Daniel Levy in the transfer market is dwindling more and more by the day.
M'Vila is a total steal at €12m, though, and even though I wish we'd be this proactive about signing a striker, I'll be very happy to have him.
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 as well.