Downing: Tottenham target
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Downing to hand in transfer request
Middlesbrough's resolve to hang on to Stewart Downing will be tested on Monday when the midfielder is expected to hand in a transfer request.
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It is understood the 24-year-old will ask to leave his home-town club following strong interest from Tottenham.
Boro chief executive Keith Lamb has already dismissed a bid - thought to be in the region of £6million - from the White Hart Lane outfit as "derisory", while manager Gareth Southgate has repeatedly insisted the England international is simply not for sale.
However, Downing's decision to submit a transfer request could force their hand with Southgate admitting when striker Ayegbeni Yakubu made it clear his future lay away from the Riverside Stadium that there was no point in hanging on to players who did not want to be there.
The manager is under no pressure to sell, although he had made no secret of the fact that he will have to raise his own funds if he wants to buy this month.
Boro value Downing at closer to the £15million mark but it remains to be seen whether or not Spurs, who have been admirers for several years, are prepared to go to anywhere near what would be a record transfer fee received by the Teessiders.
Downing signed a new five-year contract on February last year, but it is understood he has become increasingly unsettled in recent months and is now ready to test himself away from the club where he has become the highest-profile graduate of a productive academy.
The local boy has won 21 senior England caps to date, the last of them in the 2-1 win over Germany in Berlin in November, a game which earned him impressive reviews.
Lamb told the News of the World: "Who on earth do they (Spurs) think they are? They bleated away when Dimitar Berbatov left for Manchester United in the summer - but they sold at top dollar.
"Then they want to snatch other players for derisory offers and try to unsettle players. That is what has happened here. Their offer is a joke.
"Why would we sell our best players to our nearest rivals? Stewart is going nowhere."
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Your Comments
sofaking (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"don't really rate him to be honest. don't think he could do the business at a big club. are any other Prem clubs interested? "
Danosaur (Aston Villa fan)
"C'mon! we all now he is a very good player. All this transfer request is going to do is start a bidding war. He's not going to go cheap. At least £12 million I reckon. I got a sneaky suspicion a big club will come in for him."
boroboymike (Middlesbrough fan)
"Brilliant player, brilliant crosser of the ball. One of the best in the Prem. Really hope he doesn't go. Especially to that joke of a club - Spurs. If Bent is worth £17 mill and Bentley the same then why not £20-25mill for Downing. Hopefully Spurs cannot afford this as we cannot sell our best players. Oh and to the Man U fans - you almost lost last Monday so what does that make you guys? Shocking, rubbish? Jokers."
THFC (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"I think he is very similar to bentley, not paticularly quick but a fantastic delivery of crosses, corners and free-kicks. He would denfinitely provide the balance Harry is craving. £15mil is a lot though......."
BlueMachine (Birmingham City fan)
"Is he really THAT much better than O'Hara? Stick with the lad and give him a chance"
crazyvillain
"why would any decent premiership player worth their salt want to play at spurs in the championship?"
KingLedley26 (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Downing is a good player, a good left sided player and exactly what we need. Judge him when he has had a season with us (providing we get him that is) not on his time playing in a very poor Boro team. And Newcastle fans, dont comment on our team, players, managers or fans coz you have no right when your club are the biggest joke in english football."
McClane (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Tom29 "Well, well, well. The complete hypocrisy and big time charlieism that sums up Tottenham Hotspur rears it's ugly head again."...Remember the Owen Hargreaves and Cristiano Ronaldo affairs, creep?"
McClane (Tottenham Hotspur fan)
"Pls pls pls...Boro, keep him...Or maintain your stand, sell him to anybody but us."
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