In April of this year, Tottenham linked Albert Guðmundsson told the English media that playing in the Premier League is absolutely an experience he wants and it’s something he’s been thinking about since he was a child.
That caused a little fuss in Italy where they’d been reporting the opposite and saying that Inter Milan therefore had a better chance than any English club in the summer window.
The Genoa player then spoke to the Italian media and said he’d changed his mind, which gave them all a renewed confidence he’d snub Tottenham and anyone else from the Premier League.
That carries on to this day, and Monday’s edition of Corriere dello Sport to be precise. They report that Tottenham have been in contact over signing the 26-year-old, but he’s ‘willing to wait for Inter’ and ‘wants to make a leap in his career but he would like to do it in Italy rather than in the Premier League’.
Now, that’s quite clearly questionable. A 26-year-old doesn’t carry the desire since being a child to play in England’s top flight and then drop it in the matter of a few weeks.
It’s a case of telling each country’s media what they want to hear, and it’s very unlikely he’d turn down a move from Genoa to Tottenham if one was on offer at some point this summer.
An Icelandic footballer, who plays in Serie A, doesn’t talk to the English media about a move to the Premier League without it being intended to attract attention.
Perhaps Inter Milan and the Italian media are being a little over confident on this one.