Tottenham’s second bid for Brighton centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke has been rejected.
Brighton’s CEO Paul Barber confirmed on talkSPORT that his club had rebuffed the approach for their £70million-rated Dutchman.
Tottenham are trying to make the 25-year-old their third defensive signing of the summer after confirming deals for Andy Robertson from Liverpool and Marcos Senesi from Bournemouth.
Van Hecke only has a year left on his contract at the Amex Stadium but Brighton are not budging on their price tag so far.
Barber told talkSPORT: ‘There’s always going to be a lot of interest in our best players, and certainly in the case of Jan Paul.
‘We’ve been very clear that that interest has been ongoing for a while, it’s coming from multiple sources.
Tottenham’s second bid for Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke has been snubbed
‘Yes, we have rejected a bid from Tottenham over the last week or so, in fact, two bids.
‘From that point of view, it has to be right for us as well as the player.
‘We have to be in a position to make the best trades to suit our model and also to make sure that we’re supporting Fabian [Hurzeler], because he’s got another big season ahead of him.
‘He’s had two seasons in the Premier League, he’s finished eighth on both occasions, this time we’ve been fortunate enough to qualify for a European competition.
‘We want to go as deep in that competition as we can, while also doing well in the Premier League.
‘To do that, we need to make sure Fabian’s got the best possible squad and we’ve got the right balance between the young players that typically we like to bring in and develop, and the more experienced players like Pascal Gross and others, who can actually help us progress in all of the competitions that we’re in.
‘As always, it’s a balancing act, and hopefully this summer we can work hard to pull it off again.’
Liverpool discussed a potential £35m move for Van Hecke last summer when they held parallel discussions with Crystal Palace for Marc Guehi. They retain an interest but have priorities elsewhere despite losing Ibrahima Konate, who is joining Real Madrid for free.
Chelsea also hold an interest but Van Hecke is well-known to Roberto de Zerbi after he played under the Tottenham coach during his time in charge of Brighton.
That dynamic will attract the defender to the move but Spurs need to get closer to Brighton’s valuation. The north Londoners are expected to sell captain Cristian Romero.
Van Hecke started for the Netherlands in their friendly against Algeria in Rotterdam on Wednesday and they lost 1-0.
