Tottenham's £50million blow as Premier League duo circle for January transfer

· FootballLondon

A pair of Premier League clubs are circling before the winter transfer window with the scale of Tottenham Hotspur's transfer mistake coming into focus

Middlesbrough have reportedly placed a £70million price tag on Will Lankshear to ward off Premier League interest, just four months after Tottenham Hotspur sold him for at least £50m less.

Spurs scouts are said to have watched Lankshear play for Boro this season, with contemporaries from Leeds United and Newcastle United also apparently doing likewise with a view to a potential January swoop.

The club do not have a buy-back clause, but included a 20 per cent sell-on clause and the right to match any future offers in this summer's deal. Lankshear cost an initial £10m, with another £10m in potential add-ons. That could make it a club-record fee for Boro.

Four months on, Spurs have seen a player they sold rather than loaned out for a third time become a £70m-rated striker, per The Sun. Lankshear has scored one less goal than his former club have across all competitions this season with 15.

He has managed three more finishes than anyone else in the Championship this season. Lankshear is averaging a goal every 81 minutes with a 27% conversion rate.

Comparisons are already being made to Harry Kane due to their physical statures, both being 6ft 2in. They each also went on multiple EFL loan spells before breaking through, with Lankshear previously going to West Brom and Oxford United.

The Sun claims playing and scoring for the England senior team will trigger some of those bonuses. John McDermott, who is The FA's technical director, is said to have watched Lankshear play for Oxford against Sunderland in their FA Cup fourth tie last season.

Before rejoining the FA in 2020, McDermott spent 15 years at Spurs. Lankshear, though, did not join from Sheffield United until 2022, having spent nine years at Arsenal before being released.

The 21-year-old made his England Under-21s debut in September. He scored as a second-half substitute in a 4-2 win in European Championship qualifying over Kazakhstan.

That call-up followed the summer signing scoring eight goals in his first 11 matches for Middlesbrough. Lankshear has added seven in five games since then before sustaining a minor hamstring injury earlier this month.

The problem prevented him from receiving a call-up for this international break. That followed some speculation about whether he could command a spot in the senior squad.

Wilfried Zaha was the last outfield player from a Championship club capped by England. The Crystal Palace academy graduate debuted in 2012 after being promoted from the U21s, before switching his international allegiance to the Ivory Coast in 2016.

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