Spurs ready to bid £12m for in-demand Newcastle striker

Having made a series of inquiries about Perez in the summer, only to eventually turn elsewhere, Spurs officials are ready to table a formal offer of around £12m once the transfer window reopens at the turn of the year.

Manchester United are also pondering an approach for the 22-year-old, who has scored ten goals in 52 appearances since making a €2m move from Spanish Segunda Division side Tenerife in the summer of 2014.

Louis van Gaal is determined to add some attacking pace to his squad in January, but sources in Manchester claim Perez is merely one of a number of potential targets who are currently being considered by the Old Trafford hierarchy.

Spurs’ interest is understood to be at a much more advanced stage, with Mauricio Pochettino a confirmed admirer of Perez’s attacking qualities.

The Spurs boss was championing the Spaniard’s abilities throughout the summer, and regards him as a potentially useful acquisition for the second half of the current campaign.

With Spurs almost certain to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Europa League, Pochettino is concerned by the size of his squad. Newcastle’s lack of European football means Perez is not cup-tied for continental competitions, making him an especially appealing target.

Steve McClaren dismissed talk of Perez leaving St James’ Park when he was quizzed on the subject ahead of last weekend’s defeat to Leicester City, but despite his position on the Newcastle board, the head coach’s ability to influence key transfer matters remains limited.

Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley remain the key decision-makers within the boardroom set-up, and the former has always maintained that ‘every player has their price’.

Having only shelled out around £1.5m to sign Perez less than 18 months ago, Ashley could find it hard to resist a £10m profit, particularly as he could then fund some January incomings without having to dip into the club’s reserves.

Perez is one of the lowest-paid players on Newcastle’s books as he remains on the same deal he initially signed when he moved from Tenerife.

There has been mounting talk of a new deal in the last few weeks, but McClaren was unwilling to discuss the situation last week and it is not believed that contract discussions are at an advanced stage.

Perez’s contract was described as a “long-term deal” when he signed in June 2014, but given that he has made giant strides since then, establishing himself as a first-team regular and rapidly emerging as one of Newcastle’s key attacking assets, he could rightly expect to be rewarded with an improved agreement.

He is certainly aware of Tottenham’s ongoing interest as he discussed the situation in an interview with the Spanish press earlier this season.

“There was interest from Tottenham, especially Pochettino,” said Perez at the time. “It’s a very nice compliment for me, but in the end it did not work because Newcastle considered me too important and would not let me leave.”

While Perez has blossomed since starting out into Newcastle’s development ranks, Tamas Kadar’s career stagnated during his time on Tyneside.

Like Perez, Kadar was touted as an extremely promising youngster when he was signed during Kevin Keegan’s second spell in charge of Newcastle in 2008.

However, the Hungarian centre-half barely got a look in as he suffered a succession of serious injuries, and was eventually was released by Alan Pardew three years ago.

He has successfully rebuilt his career at Roda, Diosgyor and Lech Poznan since then, and will be part of Hungary’s squad at next summer’s European Championships after helping his national side qualify for France via this month’s play-offs.

He admits an inability to stay fit blighted his time on Tyneside, but also claims a constant churn of managers did little to help his prospects.

“As a Newcastle player, I was working with a lot of managers,” said Kadar. “When you are not able to play football and get a chance in the team, it is hard.

“That was what happened when Pardew was manager, but it also helped me a lot because I could work with very good players and coaches.

“I will always be grateful to Newcastle. I have bad and good memories to be honest. I wasn’t playing under Alan Shearer, and when Pardew was in charge, I was injured. But all of them are very good people and managers.”