Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has had a first bid rejected by West Ham for Craig Bellamy.
Harry Redknapp’s' Tottenham side are lacking in striker options following the sale of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov in the summer. It leaves Spurs light, with just Darren Bent, Roman Pavlyuchenko and the on-loan Fraizer Campbell as the only recognised strikers at the club.
Redknapp now has his attention fixed on the bad boy of football, Craig Bellamy. With West Ham facing financial strain – they may face a £50 million bill from Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair, and their chairman Bjorgulfor Gudmundsson suffering from Iceland’s economic issues, Redknapp has tested their nerve with a bid thought to be around the £6 million mark. A figure West Ham are said to have rejected.
But Redknapp has warned he will not pay over the odds in the transfer silly season;
One or two players that we mentioned, people were talking crazy prices, if we can’t get the players to improve the squad, I won’t bring in anybody.
Meanwhile Redknapp’s opposite at West Ham, Gianfranco Zola, insists that he only wants to strengthen his squad, not reduce it;
I’m not interested in selling my best players because I want to try and improve the team if I can – that’s our target for the January window.
Have I been told I have to sell them? Absolutely not. The club have told me they are not going to sell them, so of course I would be very annoyed if they were sold, and they would have to give me a very good reason.
I don’t want to talk about what may happen because in football you never know what is around the corner. I will not be pleased (by player sales) because I wnat to improve the team, but I have faith and the club remains positive.