Following interest and bids for Emerson Royal, Tottenham will need to replace the Brazilian. Former Spur, Kyle Walker-Peters has been linked with a return to Tottenham, but new reports suggest West Ham are closer to signing him.
A Tottenham return has been rumoured for Walker-Peters
Former Spurs right-back, Kyle Walker-Peters, departed the club after struggling to earn consistent game time at the club following his breakthrough from the academy to the first team.
Southampton purchased the England-capped defender in 2021 as part of a deal with Spurs that saw Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg go the other way. (Daily Mail)
Interest in Walker-Peters was touted back in May with HITC revealing that Tottenham have a £30 million buy-back clause as part of the deal to sell the 27-year-old back in 2021, however, the club feel they can negotiate a lower fee and are looking to pay more towards the value of £20 million.
The idea of resigning Walker-Peters is likely to be two-fold. Tottenham have been reported to require more homegrown players for next season and Walker-Peters, having been club-trained would ease that demand.
The second factor would be that Alasdair Gold has reported Tottenham have rejected a bid for Emerson Royal but will be willing to accept a fee of €20 million with the sale leaving Spurs light at right-back.
West Ham are leading the race for Walker-Peters
Ben Jacobs has revealed that despite Tottenham’s rumoured interest, Kyle Walker-Peters looks more likely to move to East London than North this summer, as Jacobs explained: “West Ham I’m told are more active on Kyle Walker-Peters. There were more discussions with Walker-Peters and Flynn Downes going the other way. West Ham are still there while Spurs haven’t advanced anything on Walker-Peters”. (Ben Jacobs via the Last Word on Spurs)
Although Jacobs admitted that Spurs do have room for one more at right-back due to the expected exits of Djed Spence and Emerson Royal, it doesn’t appear as though Kyle Walker-Peters is close to joining Spurs.
The rumoured buy-back clause does obviously mean that Tottenham could supersede West Ham in the race for the Saints player but would be an expensive deal at £30 million.
Spurs Web opinion
I was disappointed back in 2021 when Walker-Peters was sold to Southampton, feeling that the right-back wasn’t given quite enough opportunities to develop and while a move to the coast was best for his career, selfishly I would have been keen to see him remain a Spurs player.
A move to West Ham wouldn’t be popular among Spurs fans for obvious rivalry reasons, but if a deal is as expensive as Tottenham’s buy-back clause of £30 million, that does seem an overpay for a player who is now 27 and has been playing in the Championship most recently. Should a deal be around £20 million or less, it seems a big miss should Tottenham not join the race for their former player.
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