BBC Sport pundit fears ‘can of worms’ being opened in new Tottenham investigation
We’re delighted to welcome former Scotland right-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Alan Hutton fears a “can of worms” could be opened after it was confirmed the Football Association is looking into the 2008 transfer of Jermain Defoe to Portsmouth.
Ex-England striker Defoe moved to Portsmouth from Tottenham in January of that year, with an investigation by the Times (21 November) alleging that an unlicensed agent was used during talks over the deal.
Sky Sports shared on November 24 that the FA is looking into the evidence of the transfer and a lack of action taken by a panel probing it back in 2010. They added that Spurs had refused to comment when contacted.
Hutton, who played with Defoe when he returned to White Hart Lane a year later, wonders how many other transfers could end up being looked into.
Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News, he said: “There’s so many ifs, buts and maybes within this because we don’t know exactly what went on. I know it’s about an unlicensed agent, we don’t know who paid who or what fees were involved or whatever, we need to wait and see until it all comes out and it’s unravelled.
“But the problem with this is if something does come out and they investigate it and they find there were issues obviously in the transfer then it kind of opens up a can of worms to say ‘right well are they going to investigate more? What are they going to look into next? So, again we have to see all the information before we can really judge it.
“What was it 2008/9 something like that? That’s how far back it was, so can you imagine how many deals have been from that moment to this? So where does it stop?
“I mean if I’m the likes of Defoe or his counsel you’re saying ‘well are you going to look at everybody’s? Or why’s the reason this one’s flagged up?’
“Because I’m pretty sure if you looked hard enough there’d be more interesting transfers if you want. So it does open up a can of worms but we’ll have to wait and see how this one develops and what the issues were within this and see if you can put it against other transfers, so it’s definitely an interesting one.”
In other Tottenham news, Jermaine Jenas was wowed by the performance of Brennan Johnson against Manchester City.