Spurs respond to West Brom Chairman's statement, debunk rumors

The biggest story, at least as far as fans of Tottenham Hotspur were concerned, of the final day of the summer transfer window was Spurs' failure to sign West Bromwich Albio striker Saido Berahino. Tottenham's pursuit of Berahino has lasted for months (or weeks depending upon which narrative you subscribe to) and despite two late bids from Spurs, Berahino remained a West Brom player.

In the hours after the transfer window, West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace released another public statement. Peace again slammed Levy for his "antics" and for not allowing the Baggies enough time to recruit a "suitable replacement for a proven Premier League goalscorer." Peace insisted that the club never had any intention of selling Berahino, but even if they had, Spurs' offers for the player hadn't reflected his true value.

Of course, social media took hold of this statement and ran with it. The narrative espoused by Peace was bolstered by a radio station's tweet, stating that Spurs offer included only £5 million up front. The mob quickly jumped onto this narrative and started brandishing hashtags and making official statements requesting that the club respond as to why there was no Plan B and why the club had been so stingy in their negotiations.

Totteham, however, have now responded to Peace through the press. The club is "adamant" that they offered £25 million cash for Berahino and are "bemused" by suggestions that their final offer was anything different. This final bid allegedly met West Brom's valuation of the player, but was still rejected. The Daily Mail reports that Berahino had been agitating for a move all preseason (not just since mid-August) and was so set on leaving the Hawthorns that member's of West Brom's coaching staff felt it best to sell Berahino and invest it the squad. Berahino himself was, allegedly, furious when early transfer bids from Spurs were rejected and was likely even more incensed by the deadline day denials.

The Guardian are reporting that West Brom manager Tony Pulis is "bitterly upset" at the way this saga was handled. Pulis felt that there was little point in keeping an unhappy Berahino and the animosity between the two chairmen seems to have scuppered a possible deal for the Baggies to add Federico Fazio.

So, just to recap, Jeremy Peace is busy decrying Tottenham's antics as they relate to Berahino, and instead of £25 million pounds now has himself an unhappy player who may or may not ever play for West Brom again. Tottenham insist that they met Peace's valuation of the player and that it was West Brom's antics that unsettled the player, not Tottenham's. All in all, no one has covered themselves in glory during the course of these transfer dealings, but it looks more and more, to me at least, that it Peace who screwed things up, not Daniel Levy.