Spurs readying swoop for Atletico Madrid midfielder

We reported earlier today that, according to sources, Daniel Levy is planning to hop on his super RyanAir jet and landed in Madrid to try and lock down the signing of Toby Alderweireld.  While we've been waiting for any update, some rumors have popped up that our bald ninja Jedi is doing more than just shoring up the back line.

Multiple sources from The Express, SportsMole, and talkSPORT, are saying that Tottenham Hotspur are now in the hunt for 28-year-old defensive midfielder Mario Suarez.  Of course, Suarez plays for the same club that owns the rights to Alderweireld, Atletico Madrid.  Levy may be trying to do a "kill two birds with one stone" stance on this, but looking at the reports, there isn't much to go by.  All three of these reports do not give any kind of quotes and simply rolls with "unnamed sources" and general rumor, so we can take this with a large grain of salt as to how true it is.  The reporters may just be going with the information that Levy is in Madrid and may have missed out on Morgan Schneiderlin, which means he's in the market for someone else.

Suarez isn't a bad option by any stretch.  He's been a solid defensive midfielder for Atletico, but there are some red flags here that make me question the validity of the transfer.  First off, Suarez is 28 years old, and while this isn't normally a huge deal, he doesn't seem to fit the current trend of pushing youth players at White Hart Lane.  Secondly, Suarez suffered a pretty horrific injury last August against VfL Wolfsburg when his head collided with teammate Cristian Ansaldi's hip.  The injury was listed as a "traumatic brain injury" and Suarez ended up getting treatment in Germany for several days.  To his credit, he seemed to bounce back from it and managed to play the entire match against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup.  He didn't show signs of lingering injury for the season, but that's still on his injury report and has to be taken with caution.

Suarez wouldn't be a bad bit of a business, given the flags involved.  The problem with this rumor, though, is that it just doesn't seem to fit.  Pochettino has continued to say he wants to build with youth, so buying a 28 year old DM is not what would be expected.  However, if Sky Italia are to be believed, the bid would only be for £6 million, and that is as Levy-esque as it gets when it comes to buying.

So, it's not quite #batcountry, but let's put this on the back burner and take a "wait and see" approach.