Barcelona are said to be keen on Jan Vertonghen but Tottenham Hotspur are not interested in selling the defender.
In fact, the North London club are keen to keep hold of one of their prized assets and are said to be in the middle of talks of a £60,000-a-week deal for the Belgian.
Earlier this month there were rumours that the Catalan giants wanted to sign the player for around £17.5M and need to strengthen the defense with the retirement of Barça legend and captain Carles Puyol. Barcelona still have money in the kitty apparently, even after splashing out a hefty £75m on Luis Suárez from Liverpool.
Belgium impressed greatly at the World Cup and Vertonghen was one of their key players. His agent however, has ruled out any move to the Catalans this summer.
The 27 year-old joined Spurs from Ajax for £9.6m in 2012 on a four-year deal worth £40,000-a-week and the club are anxious to keep him at the club with new manager Mauricio Pochettino at the helm. It is said that Jan Vertonghen grew tired of playing under Andre Villas-Boas as he was changed to left back. The defender also pointed to a move in February if the club didn’t qualify for Champions League football.
Pochettino wants Vertonghen to stay and is prepared to make him one of the club’s highest earners. Jan Vertonghen, who is still on a break following the World cup, is believed to be keen on signing a new deal at White Hart Lane.
we missed Laporta.. current hopeless leaders will never land C B…so no trophies
I wouldn’t have said he was tired of playing under AvB, we just had the misfortune of losing Rose to injury (not that he was any good), had Kyle Naughton as an incompetent back up and Zeki Fryers still in nappies, so Jan had to play where he plays for Belgium for a while. Granted, he didn’t like it, but it was more necessity than AvB picking him there through choice.
He also never had a real partner, Kaboul falls to pieces every game, Dawson was too slow and decrepit to keep up with the play, Chiriches was injured and struggled to adapt and I think it all got a bit much for Jan to deal with. Alongside a regular partner, he’d be an asset to any team.
Then Andre walked and along came ‘Tumour’ Tim and all the players lost their desire to play, Jan especially, so he feigned injury for the last two months of the season part way through the Liverpool match and didn’t play again until Belgium came calling.
He is much appreciated at Tottenham, it was just such a shame that last season the erratic tactics and management at the club was so unsettling for a number of players. Luckily, new Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino looks like a good manager and already has squad members enthusing about the season ahead.
I think Pochettino will do a great job at Spurs