Pochettino calls to No1 Spurs target Morata

As with any position, Tottenham has a list of potential striker targets which we will do everything we can to try to sign. While there is still a chance of getting the number one target, you do not sign your number two choice or number three and so on.



You negotiate a deal with strikers, you come to verbal agreements and you let their agents know the circumstances in which you will sign their client. Michy Batshuayi, for instance, will know that he is not our first choice striker, he'll know Alvaro Morata is.

While fans may think a player wouldn't sign if they knew they were not the first choice, footballers and agents know the score, the industry doesn't operate that way. Why cut your nose to spite your face? If you are the first choice for a club without European football and second or third choice for a club with Champions League football, you'll wait to see if you can get a higher grade of football and when it looks as if you can't only then will you sign for the non-Europan team. That happens all the time at all levels. You keep your options open and do what is best to advance your career, not your ego.

In these situations, you hear players saying I'll take my time over a decision or I want to concentrate on the European Championships and I'll decide my future after them. There is also an element of agents not wanting their players signing contracts before the Championships this summer in the hope that they have a good tournament and can ask for more money, or indeed receive new offers.

Alvaro Morata is a Juventus player and they want to keep him. Real Madrid wants to buy him back at the stipulated set fee in his contract and then sell him to the Premier League for a profit. Spanish newspaper AS claim Madrid director Emilio Butragueno phoned Morata after Juventus went out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich.

Arsenal were very keen for that to happen as soon as possible as they feared other clubs would be interested in they knew Real Madrid were prepared to sell him straight on.

That is the case now as new Chelsea and former Juventus boss Antonio Conte wants the 23-year-old (24 in October)  at Chelsea. It is revealed in the Italian press that Mauricio Pochettino has made many calls to the player to partner him with Harry Kane. They suggest though that Chelsea are the favourites to sign him.

TMW who are rereporting what the italian press are saying,  suggest Manchester United are an unknown factor but that Conte has demanded Chelsea sign him. The British media report Arsenal as strongly pursuing him, the Italian media report Chelsea as leading the race with Tottenham making a strong effort to sign him.

Why has this all blown up now? Because Real Madrid are likely to face a transfer embargo in 2017 together with Atletico Madrid and both clubs have to prepare for that and sort out their transfer affairs before that judgement is made. They are having to plan for the future now. It is also the second year of Morata being at Juventus and the last transfer window in which they can exercise their buy-back option. This demonstrates why Tottenham do not get involved with buy-back deals, you have no control over your own players and can lose them whether you like it or not.

The Spaniard is the hottest transfer property this summer and is clearly our number one target. If he wasn't we wouldn't be making so many calls to try and convince him to come to Spurs.