By Michael Lynch
December 30 2003

Tottenham Hotspur are set to boost their squad by signing highly rated Nottingham Forest young midfielder Andy Reid and have admitted being extremely interested in him.

Spurs make bid for Forest's Reid

No sooner had the 'January Sale' been declared than Tottenham Hotspur make a bid for one our finest assets. This story is from Nottingham's newspaper the Evening Post, which took me a long type to type up.

 

"SPURS BID FOR REIDY

12:00 - 30 December 2003

Tottenham Hotspur have made a bid for Forest's Andy Reid, believed to be £2.5million.

Spurs boss David Pleat is understood to have £15m available for new players after the north London club slipped into the bottom three of the Premiership on Sunday.

The offer is believed to include several performance-related clauses. Forest refused to comment.

Pleat said: "He is a player we are very much aware of and rate very highly."

Relegation-threatened Spurs are looking to bring in a left-sided midfielder after Paul Konchesky returned to The Valley after a loan spell from Charlton.
Pleat has already agreed terms with highly-rated Sheffield United midfielder Michael Brown, who is set to complete his £500,000 move to White Hart Lane as soon as the transfer window opens.

And he appears to be scouring the Nationwide League for new talent as he tries to push Spurs out of the relegation zone.
Money appears to be no object as Spurs attempt to maintain the top-flight status they have held since 1978.

Pleat's predecessor Glenn Hoddle was allowed to spend £11.25m on strikers Bobby Zamora, Freddie Kanoute and Helder Postiga over the summer before being sacked by chairman Daniel Levy in September.

Reid signed a three-year contract this summer after a string of excellent performances in the second half of the season helped maintain Forest's push for the play-offs.

He has scored ten goals in the current campaign and was Division One player of the month for October, establishing himself as one of the hottest properties outside the Premiership.
His performances also earned him his first full cap for the Republic of Ireland against Canada last month.

The move by Spurs is expected to kick other Premiership clubs into action.
Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has also said he would be interested in signing the player.
He said:

"I like Andy Reid at Forest but he is going to cost money so I might be looking at free transfers and foreign loans."

However, his chairman Milan Mandaric said: "I expect we will bring in three or four players and we will pay fees for some of them."
Birmingham and Charlton have also been closely monitoring the 21-year-old and could also move in with bids of their own; However, Blues boss Steve Bruce has looked to the right side of his midfield as a priority and is understood to be pulling out all the stops to make Mikael Forssell's move to St Andrews from Chelsea a permanent arrangement.

Bruce is understood to have been monitoring Reid's progress for some time and watched him in Forest's 3-1 win over Sheffield United in September.
But, after spending £4.2million on striker Clinton Morrison last season, he may be reluctant to invest in a player untried at Premiership level.
Meanwhile, Charlton boss Alan Curbishley was at Forest's recent 1-1 draw at Watford.

Speculation also continues to surround the future of 19-year-old central defender Michael Dawson, whose stop-start season has been affected by illness and injury.

But so far Aston Villa boss David O'Leary is the only manager to express an interest.
"I think Dawson is a player with potential," said O'Leary."

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