Spurs have decided not to pursue a move for André Gomes, who spent last season on loan with Everton.
Tottenham had been monitoring Gomes’ situation, but Maurico Pochettino and his transfer team have decided to turn their attention elsewhere, leaving Everton and West Ham United a clear field to compete for him.
West Ham have already tried to inch ahead of their rivals by launching an £18 million bid for Gomes earlier this week, but that has been turned down by his parent club Barcelona, who are believed to want closer to £30 million for his services.
Now Everton are expected to make their own offer for the player, who made 29 appearances in total for them last season, scoring once in a home defeat to Wolves in February.
The Portuguese international who joined Barcelona from Valencia in 2016 has currently two years left on his contract with the Catalan club.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.