Filed under: Tottenham, Europa League (UEFA), Premier League, Football, Transfer News
What should we read into Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and his pursuit of Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra? Is it because they hit it off so well at Portsmouth that they were both waiting for a chance to rekindle their relationship?Should we presume that Redknapp has an obsession with midfield men to the extent that he will buy back players he knew from years ago even though he has up to eight men in those positions?
Or is it because Redknapp is anticipating a Luka Modric-shaped hole to appear in the Spurs midfield before the end of August?
Diarra is on the verge of reuniting with Redknapp after being deemed surplus to requirements by Real manager Jose Mourinho. He could join another former Arsenal man in Emmenual Adebayor at White Hart Lane in the near future.
Spurs forward Rafael van der Vaart is pleased that Adebayor is joining and said: "He's a great player, a lot of experience. When he comes he's welcome and I hope he's going to score goals."
The pursuit of Diarra by Redknapp is more intriguing than that of Adebayor. Redknapp has a wealth of options in midfield - although not many in the defensive mould of Diarra - and fitting them all into a 25-man squad is going to prove to be a challenge.
There is the theory that Redknapp is bracing himself for Modric's exit, even though he and the club remain adamant they will not sell their prize asset. Diarra is of course not a direct replacement for Modric, although his reputation as a jack of all trades will go some way to filling the void.
The rest of the players are hopeful - if not very optimistic - that Modric stays, although Niko Kranjcar did well in Tottenham's first game of the season, the 5-0 Europa League play-off first leg victory over Hearts as van der Vaart added: "I hope Luka is going to stay but you never know.
"Kranjcar is a fantastic player and he's a little bit like Luka, he can play there. We have a good squad and when we play like we did against Hearts we know we can win against everybody."
Defender Michael Dawson added: "You want to keep your best players, it's as simple as that. I have said it before and the chairman Daniel Levy has come out and said he is not selling. The lads certainly want him to stay."
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/08/20/tottenham-harry-redknapps-lassana-diarra-transfer/
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