Tottenham have beaten Arsenal in the race to sign Hearts star James Wilson, according to Daily Record. The Gunners entered talks for the 18-year-old over the weekend, as confirmed by Hearts boss Derek McInnes, but he has opted to join the Lilywhites.
He said: "I'll leave that to Graeme Jones, he is the one that deals with it. I think there was conversations with Arsenal yesterday (Sunday), they call and spoke to Graeme, but there has been nothing since from Arsenal.
"I heard about Tottenham as well but Tottenham have had no discussions with us directly, so who knows with that, it's up to Graeme Jones to deal with. But I think any player going out will have to have benefit to the club."
Arsenal appeared favourites to land his signature but it looks as though their north London rivals have stolen the jump. The latest reports out of Scotland have confirmed he is travelling down south to formalise his loan move to Spurs.
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Though Thomas Frank is lacking attacking options, the expectation is that he will head to Spurs' under-21s. Wilson has scored twice in 10 appearances for Hearts' senior team.
Minutes are the clear priority for Wilson with Lawrence Shankland, Pierre Landry Kabore and Claudio Braga currently preventing him from featuring consistently.
It is only a temporary move for Wilson with McInnes later speaking highly of him which suggests the Scottish club are not planning to sell him.
He said: "Listen, he is a young player, he has been restricted with minutes this season, it has been well documented how well Lawrence and Braga has done and Kabore has done well for us as well.
"It's tough to get into someone's first-team at that age, obviously James got a bit more exposure last season but he is a good kid as well. Would we see the benefit of a loan? Potentially, yes.
Hearts boss Derek McInnes reacts
Derek McInnes has spoken about incoming Tottenham signing James Wilson in detail (Image: Pete Summers/Shutterstock)
"He could get a loan and get some minutes. This one was a little bit left-field from Arsenal and their development squad. Like I say, these conversations with Arsenal were yesterday but we have heard nothing back.
"I don't know where that will go but if James is still here in the building when the window shuts... great and we work with him as we have done and try and find the best solution for him to get in our team and play his part."
It looks as though Tottenham has been chosen as the best option for the teenage striker with Arsenal making it clear they wanted to see how Wilson settled before potentially going in for a permanent deal.
However, Hearts were not so keen on that route being taken unless a sizeable fee was agreed following the end of his loan move.