Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is open to selling first team stars this summer with Man City linked.
Sign up to our LondonWorld Today newsletter
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to LondonWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Submitting...
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has underlined the club’s need to improve options in the left-back position following a week which saw the Champions linked with a big money transfer swoop for Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie.
Guardiola’ side went 2-0 down in 21 minutes against Crystal Palace at the weekend as Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards exploited weaknesses in the Cityzens’ back line. Kevin De Bruyne then inspired a Manchester City comeback with the hosts winning 5-2.
For that match, midfielder Nico O’Reilly was fielded in the left-back position, playing out of his usual role at just 20 years of age. After the match, Guardiola was asked if recruiting in that position was a priority for the summer. He said: "Obviously. Nico is helping us but he is not a left back. That is true. I played with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back, Fabian Delph at left-back. We find solutions for many years. When players have qualities they help us. Sometimes Rico plays full-back on the left. It helps us massively.
"Of course, we can help with Nathan (Ake) but Nathan, like John Stones, has been injured all season. The most important thing, from my point of view, I said to the club, which players are reliable for the future. You cannot perform if you are not reliable and you are injured. The players we have, they can play every three days, three days, or they cannot. Then we build a squad for next season."
Manchester City linked with transfer for Spurs defender Destiny Udogie
Those words from Guardiola came in the days after Manchester City were linked with a move for Tottenham Hotspur defender Detiny Udogie. GiveMeSport claimed that the Champions would ‘have to pay a fortune’ to convince Daniel Levy to sell the defender but that a move is not off the cards.
Levy is supposedly not interested in strengthening a rival with the likes of Juventus also interested in the player. However, a ‘huge fee’ from Manchester City would be enough to green light a sale, although no sum of money is mentioned.
That report claims that should Manchester City succeed in bringing Udogie to the North West, Spurs have ready-made targets in Crystal Palace defender Tyrick Mitchel and former academy star Kyle Walker-Peters, who is now at Southampton and set to be a free agent when his contract at St Mary’s ends at the end of the campaign.
Daniel Levy hints at Tottenham Hotspur player sales
Speaking in March, Levy had hinted at potential exits from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to make way for incomings. He said: "We cannot spend what we do not have, and we will not compromise the financial stability of this club.
"Recruitment remains a key focus, and we must ensure that we make smart purchases within our financial means. Our capacity to generate recurring revenues determines our spending power."
In other news, Fabrizio Romano has named two ‘concrete options’ for managers who could replace Postecoglou should the Australian be sacked by Tottenham Hotspur.