His manager said no, but Spurs have opened talks to land €25m French striker

Just a day after Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim stated that he was not for sale, and days after (erroneous) reports came out that a deal had already been reached, it now appears talks are formally underway to bring Anthony Martial to Tottenham Hotspur. Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas writes that Spurs are in the process of negotiating for a deal with AS Monaco that could bring the French U21 national striker to White Hart Lane.

Football transfers are funny things, and while we would not yet want you to break out the celebratory .gifs in the comments quite yet, this is the clearest indication yet that Spurs are actively trying to sign Martial. As much as we laugh at the "Sky Sports understands" bit, Sky Sources in the UK are generally good, and Lyall Thomas is a very good reporter with solid sources.

Martial continues the trend that Tottenham has begun under Mauricio Pochettino and Paul Mitchell of targeting young, talented players on the upswing of their career before they get really good and stupid expensive. Should a deal be reached he would be a fantastic second striker either as a complement to or a backup for Harry Kane.

Obviously this isn't a "deal reached" article or even an announcement that Spurs have reached personal terms, but amidst a sea of "Tottenham Hotspur are tracking [Player X]" transfer rumors this is a pretty clear data point. Spurs are interested in this guy, and they're working on a deal.

Will it happen? Who knows. But it'd be great if it did.