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If you thought Liverpool's failure to sign Yevhen Konoplyanka by the time the January transfer window closed would put an end to rumours surrounding the player until at least June, you'd be very, very wrong. Despite confirming a mere few days into February that a deal for the Ukrainian winger could still go through this coming summer, Dnipro's executives are now wading into territory that is oh-so-familiar to Liverpool fans.
Enter Tottenham Hotspur. No, really. Again.
"I have contact with the Tottenham president," said Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Dnipro's president who refused to sign the appropriate paperwork at the eleventh hour in January. "I am talking with him. He is interested in Konoplyanka. We are in the stage of negotiations and are perhaps close to signing a contract if Yevhen agrees.
"I would choose Tottenham – London – not Liverpool. There are matches only once or twice a week, and at other times he will still need somewhere to live. I believe London life is preferable to Liverpool."
A cynic might suggest that being in a "stage of negotiations" means very little coming from this particular club representative, given that Konoplyanka had gone so far as to have a medical for Liverpool before the deal was called off. But Spurs have an omnipresent quality regarding Liverpool transfers of late, and it's more of a mild irritant to hear the north London club come up yet again over a player who may or may not still factor into Brendan Rodgers' plans when the transfer window isn't even open.
Kolomoyskyi is certainly not wrong that London has much to offer a player currently living in Dnipropetrovsk, a bustling metropolis of one million residents, but Liverpool certainly has its share of delights that can keep a player entertained. Monopoly night at the Leiva residence. Birthday shenanigans with Welsh midfielders. Tattoo excursions with Messrs Agger and Skrtel. Foreign language instruction for children with Mamadou Sakho. There's never a dull moment!
Failing that, there's Anfield. Of all the excitement London can provide, never will the city be able to give Konoplyanka the unparalleled joy of European nights at Anfield.
