Earlier this month, Tottenham were linked with a January transfer tussle with bitter rivals Arsenal for Lille winger Nicolas Pepe.
The wideman has smashed in 12 Ligue 1 goals this season, which has unsurprisingly attracted attention from England and both north London sides could use an injection of pace from out wide.
But Mauricio Pochettino’s hopes of landing Pepe have taken a major knock as reports from France claim that Lille will demand £72m for his signature.
That would obviously be a club-record purchase for Spurs and for a player who would perhaps only be an alternative to their first choice frontline, it seems very unlikely that Daniel Levy would stretch to that.
Yesterday’s demolition job over Everton was the first time that first choice front four – Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Son Hueng-min – have all scored in the same game.
That fantastic performance sets Spurs up wonderfully well for the festive period but will not convince Levy that a new forward is needed so drastically that he should sanction a club record deal.
That said, if Pepe does move to the red half of north London and continue his goalscoring form, Spurs’ lack of spending power may be lamented.