Tottenham Hotspur are planning to make a £20m bid for Ainsley Maitland-Niles this summer, which is reportedly Arsenal’s starting valuation of the player.

The Daily Mail report that Jose Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur hold an interest in Arsenal 22-year-old Ainsley Maitland-Niles. They’re planning a £20m bid for the player to replace Serge Aurier. That’s apparently the Gunners’ initial asking price for the midfielder who can play full-back.

Spurs rate Maitland-Niles’ versatility highly and Mourinho wants a right-back as a priority signing.

Personally, I’m fully against selling to Spurs. Perhaps there are some exceptions, like pawning off an ageing player we have no use for – at a premium. But this is not one of those cases.

This is a young player with good potential drawing interest from elsewhere. Brighton are reportedly in for him and I’d rather sell to them at £15m than Spurs at £35m.

We should make things particularly awkward when it comes to Mourinho. This is the manager who blocked a deal for Demba Ba to join Arsenal. He wouldn’t even take the risk that a player like Ba might end up strengthening us.

You can’t allow a manager to treat you like that in the transfer market and then sell them a player they need. It makes you look weak, which is something the new regime minus Raul Sanllehi can’t afford.