Mario Husillos will likely face a huge challenge in the summer to land Celta Vigo forward Maxi Gomez, should we return to our winter interest, as the Mirror understand Tottenham are preparing a mega-money raid involving the striker.
Spurs are understood to be keen on improving their attack when the window opens, and will allow Spanish Champions League hero Fernando Llorente to find a new home for himself, despite his fortunate effort securing their route into the Semi-Finals at the expense of Manchester City on Wednesday.
Gomez is considered to be a great prospect to come in and work alongside the likes of Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with his release clause playing an attractive factor in their interest.
At present, anyone intent on signing the Uruguayan would be obliged to offer £42million to secure his services, but if Celta drop down to the Segunda Division, the clause practically halves to £22m.
The Balaidos natives are currently on the cusp of dropping out of La Liga, as Fran Escriba’s side have only managed to record 32 points from 32 games, enough to sit one point above Valladolid in the final relegation spot with six games to play.
Daniel Levy’s strengthening will not stop at Gomez, either, as the Mirror add that he will then turn to Lazio and try to sign Luiz Felipe as a much younger alternative to Toby Alderweireld.
The Belgian will likely be sold in the summer with his contract entering its final year, while Felipe could be on the cards for a figure between £18m and £20million.
What may play into our favour, regarding Gomez, though, is that Husillos can offer the 22-year-old something Levy cannot. Regular first-team football.
As with Llorente, he would purely be moving to North London to act as Kane’s understudy, with the England captain very much first-choice under Mauricio Pochettino, even though they have proved they can cope more than adequately without him.
For us, however, Gomez would likely be thrust straight into Manuel Pellegrini’s starting XI to act as the new spearhead of the attack, with each of the current centre-forward’s on our books far from certain to stick around in the summer.
Some fans may show hesitations to the 11-cap international walking straight into our side, given he would be arriving from a potentially relegated side, but Gomez has found the back of the net 11 times this season – accounting for close to a quarter of Celta’s 45.
