Tottenham have suffered a huge blow in their attempts to sign highly-rated France U21 international Anthony Martial from AS Monaco, SkySports reports.
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The 19-year-old has signed a new deal with the Ligue 1 outfit and that is likely to put an end to speculation that he could be joining the North London club this summer.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was reportedly interested in Martial after watching him on numerous occasions last season and it was reported earlier in the month by SkySports that the two clubs had opened talks over a potential transfer.
However, despite those talks, Monaco have managed to convince the winger to commit his future to the club for another four years, in what will no doubt be a big boost for them and their plans for next season.
This news will come has a major disappointment to Pochettino as he’s already missed out on Danny Ings, who opted for a move to Liverpool [via BBC Sport], with Sky Sports‘ report of a £12m bid from the north Londoners seemingly not amounting to anything.
The former Saints boss will now have to turn his attentions to other reported transfer targets and a deal for Dnipro winger Yevhen Konoplyanka is thought to be close to completion, according to Eurosport.
Attacking players are clearly on the agenda for Tottenham this summer, with the club being somewhat over-reliant on the form of youngster Harry Kane in 2014/15, with the 21-year-old emerging as a surprise star of the team by scoring 31 goals. Still, this unexpected rise from Kane should not necessarily mask the woeful goalscoring form of more senior strikers like Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, who managed to score just three goals between them in the Premier League last season.
Martial could perhaps have been part of the solution to this issue, but Spurs seem to have struggled once again to attract their top targets, perhaps due to the lack of Champions League football at White Hart Lane once again.