Spurs chairman Daniel Levy must be congratulated for reporting Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for their public disclosure of interest in our strikers Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.
It’s disappointing to see two well respected managers steep to such lows to lure two of our finest players.
Unfortunately the statement below gives the impression that both players will not be Spurs players for much longer.
I’ve been expecting Berbatov to leave, however Keane’s possible departure, especially to Liverpool, is something of a surprise.
I’m of the belief that no player is bigger than the club, so if the two players want to go, then fair enough, I just hope the club receive reasonable transfer fees.
The full statement from Daniel Levy reads as follows: “Today’s public comments by Manchester United’s manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players. It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.
“This comes after a series of events, dating back to last summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of Premier League (PL) rules. As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Manchester United. Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.
“The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of PL rules of conduct.
“Our subsequent position has been severely compromised by both clubs making their intentions widely known and indeed making contact with the players and their agents, without the Club’s permission.
“I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player’s head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence. This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.
“Irrespective of the outcome and futures of Robbie and Dimitar, we are continuing to seek to bring in quality, talented players for the future, who want to play in a Spurs shirt.”