Speaking to Football Insider, pundit and BBC Radio Leeds regular Noel Whelan has been left in awe of Tottenham Hotspur after their approach to sign Miralem Pjanic on loan from Barcelona.

The Lowdown: Spurs make Pjanic approach...

As per Spanish publication Sport, Tottenham's managing director Fabio Paratici asked the La Liga giants about loaning Pjanic in a recent transfer approach.

The Bosnia international is being linked with a move away from the Camp Nou this summer after featuring only sporadically last season in La Liga. Pjanic was handed just six starts by Catalans boss Ronald Koeman, with Tottenham now making an approach to take him to north London.

The Latest: Whelan in awe of Pjanic call...

Speaking to Football Insider, BBC pundit Whelan has praised Tottenham and Pjanic after this development, calling the midfield maestro a signing fans want to see.

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He also hailed the former Juventus star as an 'amazing player', saying: "Fans will want to see players like that coming to Tottenham.

"Despite them not being in the Champions League, they’ve got to find quality somewhere.

“Players that are going to accept not playing in those sort of competitions. Someone who is looking to the future to put themselves back in contention to play there.

“It’s vital as a manager that you don’t just go out there looking for 21-year-olds. There’s been a lot of criticism of how they’ve dealt with picking the manager.

“He’s a Bosnia international. He’s been at Barcelona, he’s an amazing player, he’s competitive. That’s what’s Tottenham need to be again. They need to find that nice balance.”

The Verdict: Avoid...

Over the league games in which he did feature, Pjanic averaged an excellent 91.4% passing accuracy in the middle of the park, highlighting his quality as a ball-distributor. However, his wage demands - reported to be around £210,000 per week - far exceed anything he can bring to the table for Tottenham.

It seems unlikely that chairman Daniel Levy would be willing to pay this hefty salary as Barcelona seek to trim their enormous wage bill. With Gareth Bale going back to Real Madrid, Pjanic's current paycheque would make him the highest-paid player at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Bosnian would come as a man with proven quality, but this move could be too detrimental financially to Spurs, especially with Pjanic now 31 years old.

In other news: 'Understand'...Alasdair Gold backs big news coming out of Tottenham, find out more here.