Tottenham Hotspur in 2 million Euro bid for Feng Renliang?

London bound? Feng Renliang (Sina)

According to a Chinese sports media report, Shanghai Shenhua turned down a bid of 2 million Euros from Tottenham Hotspur for their promising winger Feng Renliang.

Two scouts representing Spurs were in the crowd at Hongkou Stadium on Wednedsay night to see Feng in action against Guangzhou, and the London-based EPL club are considering making a further offer closer to Shenhua’s asking price of 3 million Euros, according to the reports.

It has to be said that the Chinese football media is prone to writing unfounded transfer rumour stories based on anonymous sources, and such reports usually turnout to be false. Feng has been the subject of a great deal of transfer speculation this season, having been linked with big-spending Guangzhou Evergrande, and un-named European clubs. However this time the rumour is a little more substantial, in that the European club in question, Spurs, were named explicitly. According to the report, Spurs bid of 2 million Euros was confirmed by a Shenhua board member.

believes interest in Feng from Europe is undoubtedly real, but a bid from Spurs does seem to stretch credibility somewhat, the London side are one of the best sides outside of the big four EPL clubs and Feng hasn’t showed so far that he could make it at such a big club.  After bursting onto the scene last year, this season he’s scored only one goal and spent quite a lot of time on the bench, and endured criticism that he hasn’t reached the same heights he reached last year. His play has also been revealed to be somewhat one-dimensional this season, relying on speed rather than skill and not being able to use his left foot. Feng has a lot of potential, but he really needs to develop his game before heading off anywhere, especially a big EPL club.

Perhaps Feng’s development would be better served at a higher level club with top coaches and facilities. But past experience of Chinese players going to Europe suggests that things seldom if ever work out this way. Regardless of weather Tottenham’s interest is real or not, it does appear that Feng will head overseas before too long, but if he wants to avoid being just another benchwarmer for a couple of years before heading back to the Chinese Super League, he needs to expand his game and sharpen his skills.