Popular Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has played down Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in Barcelona defender Mikayil Faye, as he revealed on Caught Offside.
The teenage academy starlet joined Barcelona Atletic at the start of the season and is regarded as one of the best defensive prospects at the club. He has featured 24 times for the Catalans across all competitions, even chipping in with three goals.
Spanish publication Sport reported last week that Tottenham are interested in signing the Senegalese starlet. Girona were also credited with interest in him. The emergence of Pau Cubarsi has created a ‘problem of plenty’ at Barcelona and they might be willing to let Faye leave on loan or on a permanent deal with a buy-back clause ahead of next season.
Barcelona’s outgoing coach Xavi Hernandez has already called up Faye to the first-team squad once this season, against Mallorca for a La Liga game. The Spanish coach is yet to give him his first minutes though.
Fabrizio Romano plays down links
However, Romano said he has ‘no info’ on Tottenham’s interest in the 19-year-old left-footed centre-back. The journalist revealed that the likes of Nice, Lens, Girona and Ajax have shown an interest, but ‘let’s see’ who comes forward for the ‘special talent’ in the summer:
“There has also been a story about Tottenham being interested in signing 19-year-old talent Mikayil Faye from the Catalan giants. However, I have no info on this so far – all I know is that OGC Nice and RC Lens wanted him last January, but so did Ajax and Girona. Let’s see who’s going to try in the summer but also, remember that Barca consider him a special talent.”
Whilst Romano might not be aware of any interest from Spurs in the teenager, it does not seem like an outlandish claim. Tottenham’s transfer policy in recent times seems to be to sign youngsters with high potential and invest in them. Having a manager like Ange Postecoglou really helps in this regard.
Even though Barcelona might consider him a special talent, at this point, there are very few players at the Spanish club who are ‘unsellable’. This is due to their dire financial situation. Faye’s contract at Barcelona has a £341m release clause but the club may be tempted to cash-in if a decent offer is put on the table, especially if it includes a sensible buy-back fee.
Tottenham could be looking at Faye as a potential backup to the talented Micky van de Ven. As good as the Dutch defender has been, he seems to be injury prone. The Senegalese central defender would be the perfect kind of backup to have in the squad. Let’s wait and see how this particular transfer saga pans out, come the summer.
