Report: Spurs unwilling to pay £31m for 24-year-old with ‘echoes of Iniesta and Messi’

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Tottenham Hotspur have encountered a sticking point in their pursuit of Benfica left-back Alex Grimaldo, according to a report in Portuguese outlet Record.

The 24-year-old has enjoyed a fruitful season with the Primeira Liga club, making 39 appearances in all competitions as they vie with Porto for the Portuguese title.

Grimaldo joined Benfica from Barcelona in 2016 and has gone on to make 156 appearances for the Eagles in all competitions, registering 11 goals and 30 assists.

With the Tottenham futures of both Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen in doubt, Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho could well be looking to bolster the left side of his defence.

Grimaldo has emerged as a target for Spurs but, according to Record, the North Londoners are unwilling to meet Benfica’s asking price of €35million (around £31million).

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Tottenham have some major reconstruction work to do in the summer and the defence in particular needs bolstering, so it’s little surprise that Grimaldo is being linked with Spurs.

Grimaldo is great both in defence and attack, is dangerous in the final third – as shown by his assist tally – and his quality on the dead ball is one of the best in the Portuguese top-flight.

Indeed, Planet Benfica’s David Pritchett, as quoted by MCFC Watch, described Grimaldo as “an ideal signing for Guardiola” with “echoes of Iniesta and Messi in the way that he can effortlessly change direction to skip past an opponent”.

Grimaldo is quite young as well and has his best playing years ahead of him, not to mention the prospect of great resale value.

Therefore, it’s quite surprising to hear that Tottenham reportedly don’t want to pay what seems to be a fairly reasonable fee for what they’d be getting.