LONDON: Martin Jol believes Tottenham are in pole position to secure the permanent signing of Mido before the end of the season, despite growing interest in the Egyptian striker from rival clubs. Mido is currently on an 18-month loan from Roma and has been influential in helping Spurs challenge for a Champions League place. The powerful forward has stated that he would he love to pledge his long-term future to Tottenham, but his agent, Mino Raiola, has sparked uncertainty by revealing that clubs bigger than Tottenham from across Europe were interested in his services. I appreciate that he is entitled to talk with other clubs, but the situation has not changed from our point of view, Jol said on Thursday. I don t know how many other clubs he is talking to, but we are still in negotiations with him and I don t think it will be a problem. Mido knows what we think of him and I know what he wants. We are talking with him and the decision is down to him. It is about money. It is always about money when you are talking with someone. Jol currently faces a dilemma as he shares the same agent as Mido, but does not think that will cause a problem in the negotiations. Tottenham supporters may wonder why it has taken so long for the club to tie up the deal, but Jol has never been concerned that Mido would go elsewhere. The Dutchman added It is not a real problem for me. I would have not got Mido in the first place if I did not know his agent. That was an advantage for us. We could have done business with Mido a lot earlier. But I said to him if you score between 12 and 15 goals and look sharp, you will get a deal. He has scored 11 so we will wait and see what happens. He has fulfilled his part of the bargain. I don’t regret not doing it earlier because I still feel he wants to stay here. He likes it at Tottenham so it is a matter of negotiating. Jol s cause will be helped if Tottenham can cement their place in the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season. Tottenham are currently five points clear of their arch rivals Arsenal, but Jol is deeply concerned that Arsene Wenger s side could go all the way and win the European Cup and take the last Champions League place available to English sides. Jol has managed to transform the club both on and off the pitch since he took over the managerial reins back in November 2004. But all his hard work could be put to waste if Arsenal win the final in Paris on May 17. A scenario he admits dreading. Jol said: I thought six weeks-ago that we would need three more wins, but that is not going to be enough. Maybe we will need to win all the games. If Arsenal win the Champions League, we will be out of it anyway so I don t want to think about that. It would be horrible if that happens. Arsenal are capable of beating anyone on their day. We have still got a lot of games to play and if we lose against Newcastle on Saturday the situation will change again for us. My target is to play with a lot of character and hopefully the results will come. We have been more consistent this year than all the years we have been in the Premiership. AFP
Jol confident Mido will not be lured away from Spurs
