Journalist claims Tottenham almost signed £40m Premier League star this summer, but Daniel Levy decided he was too expensive

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Journalist Sami Mokbel has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur were ‘very close’ to signing Brentford goalkeeper David Raya this summer.

Mokbel was speaking on the Last Word on Spurs and claimed Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy ultimately decided to walk away from the deal.

Spurs have snapped up Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli this week as they bid to replace their club captain Hugo Lloris.

The 36-year-old looks set to leave after over 10 years at Tottenham this summer and many expected David Raya to be the man to replace him.

But Spurs were unwilling to meet Brentford’s £40 million valuation to sign the Spaniard and went for Vicario instead.

Now, Mokbel has revealed just how close Tottenham were to snapping up Raya.

Tottenham almost signed Raya

Mokbel claims Tottenham were a ‘matter of millions’ away from signing Raya this summer.

“It looks like it’s not going to happen now, unless they go left-field and bring in two goalkeepers. But that was one that was very, very close,” the journalist said of Tottenham’s interest in Raya.

“They were haggling over a matter of millions of pounds. But in the end, it was pretty clear that Daniel Levy decided no, they didn’t want to pay the £40 million that Brentford were insisting on.”

Raya has excelled for Brentford in the Premier League over the past couple of seasons and would have been a brilliant addition to the Tottenham squad.

The 27-year-old put in an eye-catching display at Tottenham last season too, where he made a couple of brilliant stops to prevent Spurs from getting back into the game.

The Spurs News View

It’s fair to say that many fans were disgruntled when Tottenham pulled out of the race to sign Raya this summer.

But it’s refreshing to see the club move onto other targets with such haste this year.

Indeed, Spurs wrapped up a deal to sign Vicario just days after cooling their interest in Raya.

Of course, Vicario represents a much higher risk for Tottenham as he’s unproven in the Premier League. The 26-year-old has impressed in Italy over the past couple of years and hopefully, he can produce similar form in England.