‘ANGRY’ CEO STRIKES BACK AFTER TOTTENHAM CANCELS £25M DEAL FOR STRIKER
Tottenham Hotspur apparently thought Gift Orban was overpriced at £25 million, but KAA Gent CEO Michael Louwagie plainly disagrees with the Premier League giants.
According to Belgian publication Voetbal Krant, Tottenham had second thoughts about bringing the free-scoring ‘phenomenon’ to North London in August, believing Gent’s £25 million asking price was too high for a still-unproven 21-year-old who had only arrived at the Ghelamco Arena in the winter window.
However, for Louwagie, the massive prices paid by other Premier League clubs for the likes of Antony – who swapped Ajax for Manchester United in an £86 million transfer back in 2022 – offered more than enough justification as Gent refused to bend on Gift Orban’s valuation.
Tottenham has withdrawn from the Gift Orban agreement.
“That has already enraged me. Why do Ajax and PSV sell players like Antony for 95 million euros while others may readily be had for 40 to 50 million?” Louwagie inquires to Het Nieuwsblad.
“And why should we think that 30 million euros is excessive, even though the competition here is at least as good as it is in the Eredivisie?”
“However, we are Flemish.” Instead of all demanding higher rates and assisting Belgian football progress, (we) glance at each other’s plates and feel envious.
“We really need to stop doing that.”
‘A phenomena,’ says the author.
Since joining Gent from Stabaek in January, Orban has scored 26 goals in 31 games. Maintain his present rate of growth, and a player who may have been under pressure to compensate for Harry Kane’s departure will almost certainly be on his way out the door for a cost in excess of £25 million sooner rather than later.
“(Orban) is a phenomenon,” Gent coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck said after the teenager scored a hat-trick in Europe against Pogon Szczencin in August. “And he will remain a phenomenon.” I’ve said it five times and will continue to say it.
“Even if he is no longer here, he will continue to be a phenomenon, and I will say that.” Is that a hat-trick? Isn’t that nothing exceptional in and of itself?”
