Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho says the coronavirus pandemic means summer transfers are the last thing he is thinking about - so could that be good news for Norwich City?
Spurs have been linked almost on a week-by-week basis with City right back Max Aarons - with Ben Godfrey mentioned in despatches too.
Aarons has been the subject of near constant web chatter, but he stoked that himself a little when, answering fan questions on Instagram, he said Tottenham’s new stadium was best stadium he had played in during his career.
That’s as good as signing on the dotted line for some, but Mourinho’s words on Tuesday suggest the likelihood of a move isn’t perhaps as concrete as they may think.
Mourinho believes big-money transfer fees will be a thing of the past in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and expects the summer window to be extended beyond August.
Many clubs are facing big financial losses, and that will force a lot of changing of plans.
“To be honest in this moment I think it is the last thing that we are thinking about. In the club we are not thinking about it,” Mourinho said on Sky Sports’ The Football Show.
“I can read a few things but no talks about it, because it is the last thing we think about in this moment. In this moment we think about safety, following every rule inside the training ground, we are trying to be perfect, it’s not just about the testing it’s about everything.
“We are trying just to be perfect in the club and we don’t think about it.
“But you ask me and I’m not going to run away, I think it’s normal that we are going to have a different market.
“I don’t see the world and especially the football world, ready for some crazy numbers that we are used to have and some crazy investments that sometimes some clubs, especially some clubs or some leagues, are used to do.
“But to be honest, the first question after that will be when will the transfer window be? Of course I don’t think it will be anymore July and August. I think it has obviously to go further than that.
“But if you ask me my club, what I would like in my club, I would like my club to be what I know it is going to be. It is going to be sensible, balanced, we are not going to spend rivers of money and we are trying to respect the situation. Not just of football, but the situation of the world and society overall.”
Norwich’s position pre-lockdown was that they didn’t have to sell this summer – but given they estimate losses of between £18m and £35m because of the pandemic, that position may now change.
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