Morientes to say YES? And Morris to say NO?

By Gary Beaumont
February 23 2003

The latest rumour to come from Spain is that Morientes has agreed to join Tottenham for £6 million. However it is claimed he will only join if Spurs qualify for Europe this season.

The Spanish international has become increasingly frustrated about the lack of first team opportunities and is looking to rectify his career elsewhere. The whole situation seemed to explode mid week, when Real coach Vicente del Bosque attempted to bring the player onto the field for the last ten minutes of their champions league game against Borussia Dortmund. Morientes refused to go on and an ugly spat ensued with the coach. Morientes was unhappy that he was only going to be used as a last-minute substitute, especially after spending most of the second half warming up in the rain. The striker also endured the same treatment 10 days previously in Madrid's 2-2 draw against Espanyol. Press reports in the local press claimed he verbally abused Del Bosque on Wednesday night. However Del Bosque was quick to play down the bust up and last night made a statement.
"It happened in the last minute of the game, but he apologised to me first thing the next morning," said Del Bosque in his pre-match press conference which was dominated by questions about the incident.
The coach was determined to play down the incident and was disappointed the story had been reported in the first place.
"We mustn't dramatise what happened. Private things should stay private and shouldn't come into the light.
"Any employee should keep quiet and not do anything to damage his employers," he said.
Morientes, popular among the players at the Bernabeu, has been very much a fringe figure since the arrival of Ronaldo during the summer.
He has turned down moves to Inter Milan, Tottenham and Barcelona, and Del Bosque believes the story had been made public in an attempt to damage the atmosphere in the Madrid dressing room.
"I don't like the idea that things can be filtered out in any company. In this case someone revealed something very intimate about the club and will have to be punished.
"All these things are done to turn people against each other.
"I don't like the fact that these things come out anywhere," he said before trying to make light of the situation.
"However, I'm sure this happens in every family and I have to say that any one of you will have a boss and that you have probably told them to get lost."


Meanwhile Jody Morris appears to have shunned a summer move to Spurs. Agents from Chelsea claim that Jody would not choose to go to Tottenham if he did move.