Tottenham Hotspur has been 'close' to signing Jan Vertonghen for a really long time. A couple of weeks ago, he said he expected to sign for a new club in the next few days, but he's still an Ajax player. Media outlets ran with it and said VERTONGHEN TO SIGN FOR TOTTENHAM and everyone lost their collective marbles. A lot of people have wondered whether or not the sacking of Harry Redknapp has changed anything on this front, and the answer is that it has not.

As we've heard a million times up to this point, a Vertonghen deal is 'close'. The headline is only a half-joke; do we ever get business done this early in the window? We'll drag this out for a while because we're Spurs.

Here's what Sky says his agent said:

"Nothing has changed at all. He is coming to Tottenham for the club and not for the manager. Managers come and go. Of course Jan is sorry that Harry Redknapp is no longer there but he is going for the club. We have a good relationship with Daniel Levy. He wants the deal to happen and there is a good atmosphere (between us). I don't know when it will happen but the deal is close, very close."

We will sign Jan Vertonghen on August 31.