Tottenham’s Villas-Boas Gets $78 Million for Signings: Roundup

The following is a roundup of soccer stories from U.K. newspapers, with clickable Internet links.

Transfer Kitty

Tottenham Hotspur is ready to give new manager Andre Villas-Boas a 50 million-pound ($78.3 million) transfer kitty, which will be boosted by the sale of midfielders Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart, the Daily Mirror reported.

Spurs will try to bring in Marseille striker Loic Remy, Ajax defender Jan Vertonghen, Hoffenheim midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, CSKA Moscow midfielder Alan Dzagoev and Birmingham goalkeeper Jack Butland, the newspaper said.

Priority Target

Villas-Boas made the acquisition of Portugal midfielder Joao Moutinho a priority as he plans an overhaul of the Tottenham squad, the Guardian reported.

Manchester United also has been linked with Moutinho and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would have to sanction a club-record fee to sign a player valued at 35 million euros ($44 million) by his club Porto, the newspaper added.

‘At All Costs’

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is ready to break up the club’s pay structure to prevent striker Robin van Persie from leaving, the Sun reported.

“We need to keep Robin van Persie at all costs because we depend on him offensively,” the Sun cited Wenger as saying. “I’ve always supported him, even in the hardest of times. Now I hope he’ll end his career at Arsenal.”

Napoli Targets

Italian club Napoli is preparing a move for Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles after selling forward Ezequiel Lavezzi to Paris Saint-Germain for 24 million pounds, the Daily Mail reported.

Nani Nervous

Manchester United winger Nani fears being sold by the club after talks on a new contract broke down and wants his future sorted out in the next two weeks, the Sun reported.

United proposed a raise of as much as 40,000 pounds a week, though the player’s demands are said to have exceeded what was on offer, the newspaper added.

Final Year

United striker Dimitar Berbatov is prepared to see out the final year of his contract and leave as a free agent rather than help facilitate a move this off-season by taking a pay cut, the Mirror reported.

United values Berbatov at 6 million pounds after extending his deal by 12 months, meaning he would cost about 15 million pounds in salary and transfer fee if another club signed him on a two-year contract, the Mirror added

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes in Sydney at dbaynes@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net