Tottenham to hijack London rivals' deal, with club-record transfer possible, despite 'full agreement': report

Tottenham Hotspur are preparing a major hijack to stun their London rivals – and potentially obliterate their own transfer record in the process.

The Lilywhites have begun life under Thomas Frank extremely well, winning their opening two fixtures in the Premier League and looking impressive under their new manager's style of play.

But with several transfer disappointments in recent weeks, there's a consensus that Tottenham still need more depth – which could come at the expense of rivals.

Tottenham are ‘getting involved’ in £95m transfer – following the superstar's ‘verbal agreement’

With playmakers James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski both sidelined for much of the season and Son Heung-min having left for Major League Soccer, Spurs are chasing a no.10 and a left-winger on top of another defender.

But their transfer pursuits of late have been met by plenty of obstacles: Morgan Gibbs-White remained at Nottingham Forest after the North Londoners triggered his release clause, before bitter rivals Arsenal gazumped Tottenham for Eberechi Eze – and they may well do so once more to bring Piero Hincapie to N5 over N17.

Tottenham do, however, have the chance to perform a transfer hijack of their own, with BILD in Germany reporting that the Europa League winners have entered the frame for Xavi Simons.

Last month, Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg claimed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that Simons was close to a verbal agreement with Chelsea – with Spanish outlet Fichajes claiming that the fee would be around £95 million.

Journalist Orazio Accomando claimed earlier this month in a post on X (formerly Twitter), however, that a full agreement had been reached between Simons and Chelsea for around £60m.

With Tottenham's current transfer record sitting at around that figure, it would almost certainly take a much bigger bid to sign the La Masia graduate, who is ranked at no.8 in FourFourTwo's list of the best attacking midfielders in the world right now, ahead of the Club World Cup winners.

FourFourTwo understands that Simons' employers, RB Leipzig, were in a position earlier in the transfer window in which they were keen to make a major sale, due to their failure to qualify for the Champions League this season – but with Benjamin Sesko now at Manchester United, their position may have changed on keeping their talismanic Dutchman.

Simons is worth €70m, according to Transfermarkt. Tottenham face Bournemouth at home this weekend, as Premier League action returns.