Three reasons why Tottenham and QPR must avoid Colombian star

Harry Redknapp’s search for goalscoring reinforcements at Loftus Road could see the wheeler-dealer look to rumoured Tottenham target Teofilo Gutierrez – but both clubs would be wise to give the Colombian a wide-berth.

Among the star turns for Los Cafeteros at the World Cup in Brazil, the 29-year-old has also been scoring for fun in Argentina for River Plate with 17 in 38 games for the club.

But despite scoring the winner for Colombia in a 2-1 friendly win over Team USA last week, Gutierrez could well struggle to adapt to life in the Premier League – here are five reasons this is a transfer rumour forged in hell.

Commitment Issues

The man dubbed “TeoGol” has already had a spell in Europe, with Trabzonspor paying Club Deportivo Junior $4.5m back in 2010 after seeing the forward score 30 goals in his final season.

Gutierrez made a steady start to life with the Turkish side, scoring eight goals in his first 12 months with the club – including one against Liverpool in the Europa League.

But things started to go wrong when the forward decided to travel back to Barranquilla in Colombia without informing the club. Citing health issues as the reason for the unscheduled exit, doctors at Trabzonspor could find no problems and he was fined.

The Turkish club soon lost patience, selling the striker to Racing club of Argentina in February 2011.

No Fan Favourite

Over the years Gutierrez has picked up his fair share of yellow and red cards with his final season with Junior in Colombia featuring a whopping 18 cautions. However he developed a nasty habit of getting sent off in key games during his time at Racing – often with disastrous results.

Back in the 2011 Apertura, the life-long River Plate fan made headlines after being sent off during Racing’s clash with Boca Juniors. Keen to make his mark on the match, Gutierrez made an offensive gesture to the passionate Bombonera crowd as he left the pitch, which prompted a hail of missiles.

But worse was to come during the 2012 Clausura clash with derby rivals Independiente, when Teo found himself dismissed after arguing with the referee. Racing went on to lose 4-1 with goalkeeper Sebastian Saja confronting the Colombian striker in the dressing room after.

Gutierrez’s response was to produce a gun and point it towards the goalkeeper in an incident that ultimately required police intervention. In the end, the gun turned out to be an air rifle, but the incident was enough to see the striker kicked out of the team and sent on loan to Lanus.

Not a team player

Something of an aggressive character in his day, Gutierrez’s temper could prove his undoing if he were to move to the Premier League with no end to the number of opposition defenders all too happy to push his buttons if the opportunity presents itself.

It may not even require an opposing player either, as Racing reserve keeper Mauro Dobler found out a few years back during a training session.

Spotted by the on-looking media, Gutierrez and Dobler clashed during a training session after the keeper reacted badly to a challenge from Teo, with TyC Sports cameras capturing the clash, which saw fists fly and could have been much worse had others not intervened.

Does Harry Redknapp really want another Eyal Berkovic v John Hartson incident on his hands?

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