BBC journalist reveals Spurs are 'moving' to beat Newcastle to 'open' PL forward

BBC journalist Sami Mokbel has revealed that Tottenham are now ‘moving’ to beat Newcastle United to the signing of Brentford attacker Yoane Wissa.

Spurs replaced Ange Postecoglou with Brentford head coach Thomas Frank last month after the north London club could only finish 17th in the Premier League, despite winning the Europa League in the process.

Tottenham have been linked with moves for some of Frank’s former players at Brentford with Spurs immediately credited with an interest in hijacking Manchester United’s move for Bryan Mbeumo.

And now another of Frank’s stars at Brentford, Wissa, is apparently attracting interest from Tottenham with BBC Sport journalist Mokbel revealed Spurs’ plan.

Mokbel wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon: ‘Tottenham moving for Brentford attacker Yoane Wissa, who is understood to be open to a move. #THFC weighing up financials attached to the deal.’

Newcastle have also been credited with interest in Wissa – who contributed 19 goals and four assists in the Premier League last season – with the Brentford forward one name who has ‘been discussed’ at St James’ Park.

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Writing in his Daily Mail column on Tuesday, Craig Hope said: ‘Here are two new names who I understand have been discussed in the past fortnight – Brentford’s Yoane Wissa and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

‘The problem is, they would both be fairly costly and, given their age (Wissa is 28 and Watkins is 29), there is little resale value. Would Watkins, in a World Cup year, want to join a club where Isak is No 1?

‘That is the conversation Newcastle need to have with all targets in this department. You would hope that the lure of the Champions League, working under Eddie Howe and the promise of game-time given the sheer volume of game-time would give Newcastle a chance of persuading those players to join.

‘I would keep a close eye on the Wissa situation. I know he has admirers within St James’ Park and is also versatile enough to play on the wing.’

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But Brentford director of football Phil Giles is relaxed on the futures of Wissa and Mbeumo, he told BBC Sport in May: “I have a lot of insight but that doesn’t mean I will talk about it!

“No, in general, if I was looking at a striker or a wide player as another club then they have to be on a shortlist, you would imagine. But the number of clubs that can sign them is a small number worldwide so time will tell if a club has that need or requirement. At the moment, we are pretty relaxed.”

When asked if they can be retained by offering new contracts: “Yes, what I’d say is there is always a very good chance of players staying. In an ideal world, there is always a chance we can keep our best players, that’s the dream.

“When we were a Championship club, we had Ollie Watkins, he signed a contract with us at one point. We said we would convert him from a wide player to a striker – we did that and he was successful – and if we didn’t get promoted we would look to sell him.

“We were proactive to go out and sell him, we made a promise to him and we needed cash at that time because it was Covid. But now we are a Premier League club we don’t need to sell Wissa, Mbeumo and others.

“There is more chance that a player will stay for that reason but if a big club makes a really good offer for our players then we have to look at it. We need to be good sellers, then use the money to invest wisely.”

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