Competition to sign Jake Livermore heats up

Jake Livermore has been pretty adamant about the fact that he'd like to be guaranteed first team football going forward, as opposed to returning to Tottenham Hotspur and fighting for his place. And since Tottenham have quite a few box-to-box midfielders in their squad, that makes sense. But we shouldn't automatically assume he'll stay at Hull City.

According to The Mirror, there are other teams interested in Livermore's services. And as far as we know, there isn't a clause in Livermore's loan that allows Hull to buy him at a set fee at the end of the season.

Of course, if Livermore is attached to playing for Hull, under Steve Bruce, next to Tom Huddlestone, he might refuse to negotiate with other clubs. And since he's done so well this season and has an excellent situation at his current club, that may very well be the case.

But at the same time, if Stoke City and West Ham United -- the two clubs The Mirror says want Livermore as well -- are bidding up the price, that's a good thing. Andy Carroll wasn't interested in leaving Liverpool for anyone but Newcastle last summer, but Newcastle weren't willing to meet Liverpool's asking price while West Ham were. If Hull's best bid is much lower than Stoke's or West Ham's, Livermore might not have a choice but to go to one of those clubs or stay at Spurs.

Hull's owners have money, though, and a squad to stay up in the Premier League again next year. They haven't indicated that they'll be pulling out their investment as a result of not being able to rename the club. There's a good chance Hull will match whatever their rivals are willing to pay for Livermore, and that'll mean a couple million extra pounds for Spurs.