[ad_pod ]

This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to The Daily Mail, Tottenham rejected the chance to swap want-away midfielder Christian Eriksen for Juventus forward Paulo Dybala in the summer transfer window.

What's the word, then?

Well, the north Londoners were in negotiations with the Italian champions over a deal for the 25-year-old striker this summer, but the move fell through after Juventus decided that they no longer wanted to sell the Argentina international.

The Daily Mail reports that, during negotiations, Spurs were offered the chance to swap Eriksen - who is of interest to Juventus - for Dybala as Mauricio Pochettino hoped that the Denmark international would put pen to paper on fresh terms.

The former Ajax man is yet to do so however, and has rejected a number of contract offers from Spurs - Eriksen is said to be unwilling to accept any new proposals from the club.

A truly baffling decision 

The cold, hard facts are as follows.

Eriksen has already confirmed that he would like to leave the club. He isn't signing a new contract. Dybala is a world-class forward who would be a welcome addition to the club - his goal record of 103 in 288 games speaks for itself.

Pochettino could've killed two birds with one stone by accepting this swap deal. The former Southampton boss would've been able to offload a player who doesn't want to be at the club and simultaneously bring in a brilliant forward who would add real quality and depth to Tottenham's strike force - which is somewhat lacking beyond Harry Kane after Fernando Llorente's exit.

How Pochettino thought he would be able to change Eriksen's mind is a mystery to us, and in taking such a big gamble on his own persuasion techniques he appears to have missed the chance to snap up a player worth an estimated £76.5m, whilst also increasing the chances of losing a player currently valued at around £90m for nothing.

Tottenham's rejection of this reported transfer proposal is, quite simply, baffling.

[ad_pod ]