Sources: Tottenham saved £5m on blockbuster signing as insider info revealed
Tottenham pushed down the price of Joe Rodon by £5million after refusing to meet Swansea City's asking price on deadline day, Football Insider has learned.
Spurs announced the signing of the Wales international defender at 6.30pm last Friday - 90 minutes after the deadline - for £11m topped up by £4m of performance-related add-ons.
It was not until late in the afternoon that on the final day of the domestic window that Swansea accepted the Premier League giants' offer.
A recruitment source has told Football Insider that the delays were caused by the Welsh club's negotiating tactic of holding firm on their £16m valuation and making sure potential replacement Ryan Bennett was all lined up.
In the end, Swansea were forced to accept £11m guaranteed - £5m less than what they were seeking - and the rest dependent upon how Rodon and Tottenham fare during the course of his contract.
Tottenham and their transfer negotiator-in-chief Daniel Levy refused to go higher than £11m and stuck to their guns.
It may or may not be a coincidence that Tottenham’s new director of football operations Trevor Birch has first-hand knowledge of Swansea's finances.
He was chairman of the Championship club for 18 months until he joined Spurs on 1 September.
That insider information would have given Levy confidence the Swans would eventually accept one of the biggest fees of the two-week domestic window.
Football Insider broke the news early last Friday afternoon that Spurs had secured a breakthrough in their pursuit of Rodon.
Simultaneously, Swansea locked down the signing of Bennett from Wolves on a permanent deal to replace Rodon in the heart of their back line.