Sources: Aston Villa hijacked Tottenham to seal seven-figure Chukwuemeka deal
Aston Villa hijacked Tottenham to lure forward Caleb Chukwuemeka from Northampton Town, Football Insider can reveal.
The Londoners held talks over signing the young striker, 19, and submitted a cash-plus-player bid.
A recruitment source has told Football Insider that Tottenham were the favourites to sign Chukwuemeka early last month before Villa made their move.
The Londoners had a key negotiating advantage as they offered their own teenage striker Kion Etete on loan to sweeten the deal.
He subsequently completed a loan move to Northampton but Chukwuemeka did not go the other way.
The offer of a lucrative professional contract from Villa, which saw him reunite with his younger brother Carney, proved too much for the teenage striker to resist.
That was a blow for Spurs, who had been willing to pay a guaranteed sum rising to £1m with add-ons for Chukwuemeka.
The youngster impressed Spurs recruitment adviser and their former manager David Pleat in pre-season and the feedback he gave was overwhelmingly positive.
Villa's ambition and financial muscle has held sway over multiple deals in recent windows and they spent big on teenage British talent this summer.
Chukwuemeka is a versatile forward who broke into the Northampton first team with 28 appearances last term.
He rebuffed attempts by Northampton to offer him a professional contract and made his Villa debut as a sub in their crushing 6-0 win over Barrow on 24th August.