Football

The Damiao Conundrum

Tottenham Hotspur’s longest ever transfer saga has taken a rather predictable twist with reports of a last ditch £20+ million bid for Internacional’s striking sensation Leandro Damiao. Spurs have strengthened their strike force with the permanent capture of Emmanuel Adebayor, adding to Jermain Defoe, and it is no secret that Andre Villas-Boas wants to add the Brazilian Damiao to his contingent of goal-getters. Former boss Harry Redknapp wanted him, and with the chase for his signature extending over three years now, the whole story is getting somewhat tedious. Week in, week out, various stories crop up about Damiao, be it ‘Damiao close to Spurs deal’ or ‘Inter tell Spurs Damiao not for sale’. The whole saga is a bit like trying to hammer a nail with a tomato; it is not going to happen in a million years and you are going to look incredibly foolish for even trying. So why do Tottenham want him so badly?

Leandro Damiao: Heading for White Hart Lane?

Leandro Damiao: Heading for White Hart Lane?

Damiao proved that his scoring reputation is no small feat after finishing as the highest scorer at the recent Olympic Games, with six goals in as many games. At club level, he has bagged 24 goals in 58 league appearances, an impressive return for a young player who has only recently found the Internacional starting eleven. Brazilian legend Ronaldo, when asked to name the ‘new Ronaldo’, gave the nod to young Damiao, citing his strength and aerial ability as well as his goal scoring ability as his reasoning for his choice. Coming from the legend himself, the boy must be good.

It is easy to forget that Damiao is only 23 years young, with only the long, drawn out transfer saga with Tottenham to blame for the common man to think that he was nigh on 30. The lad has bags of potential, as seen at the Olympics, and Tottenham would be a lucky team indeed to have him sign on the dotted line. But with a host of top teams circling around him, with Barcelona and AC Milan only a couple of big names to show interest in him, fending off interest may be a lot harder than Spurs had planned. As a Spurs fan looking through rose-tinted spectacles, I cannot help but dream of Damiao holding aloft the hallowed white shirt of Spurs on deadline day with AVB by his side. As a realist however, I just cannot see it happening, and it looks as though we’ll have to settle for Harry Kane as our other striking option…

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