Tottenham round-up: Warning sent over Swansea midfielder; Spanish side set goalkeeper deadline; double injury woe

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Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins has sent a warning to Tottenham that their summer pursuit of former midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson won’t be an easy one, with the club determined to hold onto him.

The Evening Standard had claimed last month that the North London side are keen in bringing the Icelandic international back to White Hart Lane – only three years after letting him move to Wales.

Yet Jenkins has insisted that the Swans won’t be letting their star men – Sigurdsson and Spanish forward Fernando Llorente – leave the Liberty easily, and will not welcome any offers for the duo.

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Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We’ve not had any firm bids and if we ever get any firm bids then we will deal with them in the proper way. Our aim is to try and keep Gylfi and Fernando, keep our better players and make sure we can add to Paul’s [Clement] squad.

“It’s hard to suggest what sort of value Gylfi has in today’s market, but to us he is priceless and we’ve got to make sure we do everything in our power to make sure he stays with us.”

The 27-year-old midfielder played a massive part in helping Swansea narrowly avoid relegation last season, scoring nine times, assisting 13 and creating 57 more chances than anyone else in the squad.

Meanwhile, the Evening Standard report that Tottenham have been given a deadline of the end of June to complete a permanent deal for Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez.

The 22-year-old spent last season on loan at White Hart Lane and, despite not budging the impregnable Hugo Lloris from his starting berth, boss Mauricio Pochettino rates him very highly.

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But it is believed that the La Liga outfit have issued an ultimatum, saying that Tottenham need to activate the option to buy him for £6.2 million over the next ten days or he will return back to Spain.

Espanyol chief executive Ramon Robert has reportedly said:

“There is an option to buy until June 30 and if Tottenham do not pay it, he will be an Espanyol player. If he wants to finish his career here, we will all be very happy to have him.”

Although it’s unlikely that Lopez would feature in the Spurs’ starting line-up for a few years to come, Pochettino is keen to keep him on the books and sees him as the next big goalkeeper at the club.

Aside from transfer talk, Tottenham will face a huge blow heading into the new Premier League campaign as it was revealed today that Danny Rose and Erik Lamela will miss the opening matches.

The Times reported this morning that the duo are both still in the process of recovering from long-term injuries suffered last season and are set to miss the opening day encounter against Newcastle.

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It is believed that Rose – who damaged ligaments in his knee back in late January – will miss Tottenham’s pre-season tour of America and is now in a race against time to be fit for mid-August.

It’s worse news for the 25-year-old Argentine international, though, who isn’t set to make a return until October at the earliest after suffering a hip injury against Liverpool back in October of last year.

Lamela has only just begun strengthening the muscles in his body after almost eight months out of action, and it’s believed he has been to Rome to meet a specialist physio to help his rehabilitation.

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