Ex-Sunderland forward Joel Asoro could have signed for Spurs - but blew it with his wage demands

Whilst Sunderland academy product Joel Asoro has moved on to pastures new, leaving in order to join Championship club Swansea City this weekend, things could have been much more different for him earlier in the transfer window had all of the stars aligned.

Earlier last month the club allowed Asoro’s representatives to speak with Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur, and the deal even got to the stage of contract negotiations.

But, that’s where it all ended as some ludicrous demands were made from Asoro’s side of the negotiations which turned Spurs completely off from talking from him.

At Sunderland the young Swede was earning a modest wage but his representatives wanted to see a significant increase in his pay packet if he was to move on to play for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

It’s thought that they asked for around £25,000 per week, which immediately turned Spurs off and ended the negotiations there and then.

Sunderland owner Stewart Donald has also confirmed on Twitter that the agent asked for a fee to facilitate the move that was larger than the actual transfer fee - thought to be around £4m - and that coupled with their wage demands puts Spurs off from pursuing their interest.

It took until this week for a club to show serious interest in Asoro and the offer which Sunderland accepted from Swansea City will see us net an initial £2m, with add ons possible that are based on whether or not the club from south Wales manage to gain promotion back to the Premier League.

The 19-year old spoke to Swansea’s official website about his reasons for leaving Sunderland, insisting that he was very happy on Wearside but felt he needed a new challenge:

It feels very, very good to be at this club. I have watched Swansea play in the Premier League and I enjoyed seeing them play football. That’s the way I like to play football too.

They love to hold on to the ball. I like that – being part of a possession team is very enjoyable. It was not easy for me to leave Sunderland. I came over from Sweden to join them when I was only 15. It was a bit hard, but I wanted a new challenge.

I was very happy at Sunderland, but things happen to teams that you cannot control. We went down, then we went down again. I felt for me it was time to try to something new.

I watched the manager when he was in Sweden at Ostersund – I saw the game when they played against Arsenal in the Europa League. I am looking forward to working with him. The main thing for us is to try to get the club back to where they belong.