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As the closing of the January transfer window looms, the rumors and news reports start piling up. Today, the Guardian is reporting that Spurs are "close" to agreeing a fee with Fulham for the transfer of young French striker Moussa Dembele. Negotiations are apparently still underway.
This is a slight escalation from yesterday's story suggesting that Fulham were "willing to sell" Dembele. "Twossa" (as we love to refer to him here) has been on Spurs' radar for a while now, and while his contract expires this summer Fulham have been hesitant to sell without a clause that would loan him back to the Cottagers for the remainder of the season. The Guardian suggests that Spurs are expected to pay around £5m (not including add-ons) and that there would NOT be a loan back to Fulham.
So none of this is really new, but there's some additional smoke surrounding this transfer thanks to Sky Sports journo Lyall Thomas, and it's about Fulham's OTHER striker, Ross McCormack. McCormack is Fulham's leading striker with 17 goals this season, and apparently wants to move to Middlesbrough before the closing of the window, even going so far as to issue a written transfer request.
Full story; #FulhamFC reject Ross McCormack's transfer request https://t.co/xLTESobu0i #FFC #Boro pic.twitter.com/mBipLgHeK6
— Lyall Thomas (@SkySportsLyall) January 28, 2016
Fulham are apparently resigned to losing Dembele, either now or this summer, but are adamant not to lose their other good player. They're in a relegation battle in the Championship and their chances would take a major hit if they were willing to lose both strikers. Fulham's rejection of McCormack's transfer request seems to indicate that a deal can be reached with Spurs for Dembele before the close of the window. A willingness to deal for McCormack would likely mean the opposite: there'd be very little chance that they'd sell Dembele in January.
There's a lot that can still happen and it's nowhere close to a done deal, but it's looking more and more likely that Spurs might end January with to M. Dembeles on their roster. Stay woke.