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Xherdan Shaqiri is a talented Swiss wide midfielder who had a great World Cup, but he's stuck at Bayern Munich behind some world class players like Mario Götze, Thomas Müller, and Frank Ribery. Maybe you've heard of Shaqiri? We've talked about him before. Now Swiss paper Blick is reporting that the German champions are willing to let him go for just under £10m.
That's a bingo, right? HOLY CRAP LEVY, PULL THE TRIGGER. But there's a problem: other clubs are apparently interested, too. As is the usual case for any transfer rumor involving Tottenham, Shaqiri is also heavily linked to Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United in the Premier League, and Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
And therein lies the problem. Shaqiri seems destined to leave Bayern, likely in January, and £10m is a fantastic, mouth-watering price for a young player who seems destined to develop into a superstar. German paper Bild, naturally, seems to think Shaqiri is destined for Wolfsburg, as does the Daily Mail. And while it seems a little odd that Shaqiri would want to transfer to a second tier Bundesliga club (instead of the larger stage of a second tier Premier League club), the one consistent thread throughout all the reports are that Tottenham probably aren't going to get him.
Even in "down years" the names of Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United have bigger draw power than Spurs. If all of those teams were to decide not to pursue him, then Spurs would certainly have a great shot! Unfortunately, it seems likely that one of those teams will go in for him.
Which stinks. It'd be nice if Spurs would at least make a play for Shaqiri in January, because at that price I'd probably gnaw off Paulinho's right arm to sign him.