Demarai Gray is the latest budget signing being linked with a summer transfer to Spurs.
Spurs fans will remember that this isn't the first time the Leicester winger has been linked with a move to North London. In fact, a simple Google search shows that he has reportedly been a target for the club every transfer window for the last 3 years!
A selection headlines from the last few years linking Demarai Gray with a move to Spurs
What we do know is that Spurs had a bid for Demarai Gray rejected way back in 2017. How can we be so sure about that? Well, the then manager of Leicester City, Craig Shakespeare who was boss of the Foxes at the time has admitted as much and you would imagine that he is a fairly reliable source.
So is this just a case of the news agencies re-hashing an old story? It could well be and it would certainly not be the first or last time that this was the case. The original source of this rumour is Gary Jacob, a reporter from the Times who is not known for spreading unfounded rumours and looks to have a reasonable relationship with Tottenham Hotspur based on some of the previous articles he's written.
If there is any truth to the rumour then I'd imagine that most Spurs fans will be underwhelmed by this link. Gray was hot property as a teenager and showed enough in his full couple of seasons at Leicester to suggest he had the potential to play at the highest levels. However, his chances this year have been limited to mainly making an impact from the bench as he did earlier in the week with the 2nd goal against Sheffield United to help the Foxes towards a Champions League spot.
At 24-years old now he is past the stage in his career where he can trade purely off his potential as a future star and so it seems unlikely that he would be converted by any side who had serious ambitions to qualify for the Champions League and win silverware.
He certainly doesn't seem to feature particularly high in the mind of current Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers and with just a year left on his contract, it is entirely plausible that any number of clubs will be looking to do business if the price is right.
EPL stats for the last 3 seasons. Gray's minutes have been limited this year but he has been a good impact player for Leicester when required
The other big question for Spurs is do they really need another winger? The club has invested in Steven Bergwjin and Ryan Sessegnon as well as bringing in Gedson Fernandes on a long-term loan over the last 2 windows to complement their existing stock in that area of Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela.
It's not impossible that the likes of Lamela and even Sessegnon might be deemed surplus to requirements this summer although I struggle to see how Spurs will get full value for the later in the current climate and at 20-years-old you would hope that Sessegnon will be given time to develop either as a wide forward or an attacking full-back.
Where a link to Demarai Gray might make sense is with Spurs needing more in regards homegrown talent. If Mourinho is keen to push the squad size up to its maximum 25 players then he will need to consider buying British at least on a couple of occasions this summer. The homegrown rule states that 8 players out of that 25 man squad must have spent 3 years before the age 21 at a British club. Players under 21 don't count towards squad size.
With the likes of Danny Rose and Kyle Walker-Peters looking like they will depart this summer Spurs are short of their 8 players. It is not a requirement for the side to have 8 homegrown players if they are under the 25 max limit (Spurs currently are) but I get the sense that Mourinho is far happier working with a larger squad of players than Poch ever was.
All-in-all I'm not particularly convinced about the Demarai Gray transfer news. I'm trying to rationalise it above but that doesn't make it true. In fact, this is just the kind of paint by numbers journalism that we come across all too frequently at this time of the year. At best, Gray would be an impact player off the bench and I sincerely hope that if Spurs do have limited transfer funds this summer that they'll be prioritising other areas for investment in the squad first.
