Mourinho dismisses transfer speculation after Spurs lose to Liverpool

Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho dismissed transfer speculation amid rumours over Gedson Fernandes and Christian Eriksen.

Benfica midfielder Fernandes is reportedly close to joining Tottenham on an 18-month loan deal, while Spurs star Eriksen has emerged as a target for Serie A outfit Inter in January.

Out of contract at the end of the season, Eriksen has been linked to a move to Inter, who denied contact with Tottenham prior to their draw against Atalanta.

Mourinho, however, did not want to talk about transfers following Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat at home to runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool on Saturday.

“The boys gave absolutely everything.”

Jose gives his verdict on today’s loss.#THFC #COYS pic.twitter.com/ezdyUALfNf

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 11, 2020

“It’s the last thing I want to do after this performance is talk about [new] players,” Mourinho told reporters. I think it’s a way to show respect to these guys is to not talk about new players.

“Can we say [Japhet] Tanganga is a new player? Can we say that? He never played a match for Tottenham in the Premier League. Today he played and today he proved that he can play for us.

It’s a pity that he’s not a striker, it’s a pity that he’s not a midfield player, but he’s one more player that we have. So I think [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah, they know who Tanganga is. They didn’t know before the game. I think when they saw the list they wondered where this guy plays. I think now they know.

“The kid was really good so instead of speaking, or crying about Harry Kane and [Moussa] Sissoko and [Hugo] Lloris and Ben Davies, let’s smile with Tanganga.”

Tottenham are eighth in the Premier League and four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea after three matches without a win.