Here is your Tottenham Hotspur morning digest for Tuesday, April 5.
Spurs 'quoted' price for Martinez
Tottenham will reportedly have to pay around €80 million to sign Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez this summer. Antonio Conte’s side will also face competition for his signature from north London rivals Arsenal.
The 24-year-old has taken on the goal scoring burden at the San Siro this season in the wake of Romelu Lukaku’s switch to Chelsea, scoring 16 goals in 40 appearances. And according to Calciomercato his impressive campaign has caught the attention of some of Europe’s leading clubs.
Martinez worked with Antonio Conte at Inter and it is believed that the Italian would relish the opportunity to work with him again. However, much would depend on whether talisman Harry Kane stays at the club or leaves this summer.
READ MORE: Spurs player ratings: Super Son, dynamic Doherty, Kane and Kulusevski create, Bentancur shines
Date for North London Derby confirmed
The Premier League have confirmed that the North London Derby between Tottenham and Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will take place on Thursday, May 12 at 7.45pm.
The original fixture was supposed to take place in January, but had to be called off after the Gunners applied to have it postponed due to absences related to COVID-19, injuries, and the Africa Cup of Nations in their camp. "We are disappointed to announce that Sunday’s North London Derby at Tottenham Hotspur has been postponed," read a statement on the club's official website.
"We know how much this match means to our fans around the world, but the Premier League has made the decision to postpone the match, due to many players across our squad currently being unavailable as a result of COVID-19, existing and recent injuries, in addition to players away with their countries at AFCON."
Spurs are understood to have been furious at the decision and released a statement of their own claiming they were "extremely surprised" at the cancellation. “We are extremely surprised that this application has been approved,” it read. “We ourselves were disqualified from the European Conference League after a significant number of Covid cases meant we needed to reschedule a fixture [against Rennes] and our application to move our Leicester fixture [on 16 December] was not approved – only for it to be subsequently postponed when Leicester applied."
Read the full story here.
Conte's Spurs transformation offers glimpse of the future
Antonio Conte's Tottenham side have put themselves right in the mix for a Champions League place following five wins in six Premier League games. The latest victory came on Sunday when Spurs demolished Newcastle United 5-1 in N17, with the team even having a number of other opportunities in the second half to add to the scoreline.
Plagued by inconsistency at the start of 2022 as their up and down form saw them lose the chance to take control in the top-four race, Tottenham have hit top form at exactly the right time in the calendar. Moving above Arsenal and into fourth following their triumph over the Magpies, Mikel Arteta's men do have two games in hand over Spurs but they do crucially come up against each other before the season draws to a close.
Falling away from Champions League contention at the end of October following an almighty slump under Nuno Espirito Santo, Conte had some job on his hands in terms of putting things right at Tottenham immediately after his appointment at the start of November. Never going to be a quick fix for the world-class manager, it has been incredibly painful for Spurs fans at times, most notably in the first few months of 2022, but things finally look to have clicked into place at the business end of the campaign.
Read the full story here.
