Gent manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck has insisted that Gift Orban, who was heavily linked with a move to Tottenham during the summer transfer window, will not regret staying at the Belgian side.
Spurs were linked with a whole host of strikers across Europe following Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich, with Orban widely reported as the North London club’s top target (CaughtOffside).
However, in the end, Tottenham decided against signing an out-and-out number nine, choosing instead to strike a £47.5m deal with Nottingham Forest for the versatile Brennan Johnson.
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In fact, Fabrizio Romano told Kick last week that despite their interest in Orban, the Lilywhites never actually made an official offer for the Nigerian striker.
Although the 21-year-old has started the season impressively, with six goals in nine matches across all competitions, Vanhaezebrouck left the striker on the bench for Gent’s 2-1 win over Club Brugge on Sunday.
Gent manager is happy to still have Gift Orban
The 59-year-old has now defended his decision to leave Oban out of the starting eleven, insisting that the centre-forward will get a lot of opportunities in the weeks and months to come.
The Gent boss told Voetbalkrant: “I’m glad I still have my strikers and otherwise we would have solved it differently. We’ll see, there are still a few markets open, so always pay attention.
“Will he (Orban) regret staying? No, he will certainly get many more opportunities to play. The fact that he started on the bench against Club Brugge is because I have three good strikers.”
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While I would have preferred for Tottenham to sign an out-and-out centre-forward (in addition to Johnson), it is ridiculous how some Spurs fans were demanding that the club sign Orban, based on nothing more than watching a few YouTube videos of the youngster.
While the 21-year-old seems to have plenty of potential, there is certainly no guarantee that he will be able to perform at the Premier League level. Paying around £25m-£30m for him would have been a much bigger gamble than spending close to £50m on Johnson.
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