Yossi Benayoun Leaves Israel Camp To Take Medical With Tottenham Hotspur - Reports

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It sounds like a Yossi Benayoun deal is very close to fruition, with Tottenham Hotspur the team on the verge acquiring him - as predicted yesterday on We Ain't Got No History, if you'll excuse the tooting of own horns thing. Reports from Israel (you can make your own guesses as to their validity, since I am not an expert in the reliability of Israeli newspapers) suggest that the ex-Liverpool midfielder is leaving international duty today to take a medical at White Hart Lane:

בנבחרת ישראל מתכוננים במרץ למשחק הקריטי (כתמיד) מול יוון ביום שישי. מי שבינתיים מעסי את ראשי הנבחרת הוא הקפטן, יוסי בניון, שקרוב לסיום דרכו בצ'לסי ולהצטרפות לטוטנהאם. בניון אמור לעזוב עוד הלילה את הנבחרת למשך 24 שעות, לאחר שקיבל אישור לנסוע במטרה לסכם את תנאיו במדי התרנגולים. בין השאר עתיד בניון לעבור בדיקות רפואיות בקבוצה הלונדונית, שתשחק העונה בשלב הבתים של הליגה האירופית.

Source: ONE.

Google translated as...

Israel national team is preparing for the crucial game against Greece on Friday, and the captain, Yossi Benayoun, is near the end of his time at Chelsea and is set to join Tottenham. Benayoun will leave the team tonight for 24 hours, after receiving permission to travel to finalise personal terms and take a medical. Benayoun's new London team are in this year's group stages of the Europa League.

It's worth pointing out that a Benayoun move to Spurs does not necessarily mean Luka Modric would come back in return - Tottenham now have a genuine need for Benayoun with Rafael van der Vaart sustaining a torn hamstring last weekend and everyone is now insisting that the Modric deal is totally dead. That doesn't stop this being a good deal or making sense for Chelsea if true - if the Blues can grab something like £3-4M for Benayoun and clear his wages from the books, it's a great move.

Of course, if they sell him, they'll be essentially obligated to bring in another midfielder, because they'll then have very little cover in the centre. I wonder who they have in mind, if not Modric.