Tottenham and chairman Daniel Levy are said to have already moved for one club's "vital" £34 million player, and it is believed they have a financial advantage over numerous other sides in the race for his signature.
Spurs targeting new centre-back for Postecoglou this summer
Despite already boasting three star senior central defenders in the form of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Radu Dragusin, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou is after a fourth as he plots to overhaul the current squad.
Ange outlines Tottenham star as weak link as he eyes "perfect" £55.6m heir
The Australian has decided to sell him.
ByEmilio Galantini
Postecoglou has strongly hinted that Spurs are set for a real makeover when the transfer window reopens on June 14, with the Australian set to reinforce the heart of his backline further. He green-lit a £25 million deal for Dragusin just four months ago, but has publicly stated since then that Tottenham will be in the market for another centre-back.
“If you’re saying, ‘Is it an area we can strengthen?’, yes it’s an area we will probably look at”, said Postecoglou on signing another centre-back at Spurs.
“With all these things, it’s about trying to strengthen the group as much as anything else. If you think about when I first arrived, we had maybe six or seven centre-backs at the club. So it’s not just numbers. It’s more about the ability of those players to play the football we want and to fit in to what we’re trying to build here.
“I think it is an area of the park we will look to strengthen, but I think we’ll look to strengthen all areas of the park come the end of the season. That is planning that’s already underway, and other people are in charge of it at the moment.”
Tottenham have been linked with Fulham's Tosin Adarabioyo, and more marquee options like Everton starlet Jarrad Branthwaite, to bolster their defence. However, a fruitful pool of talent for the club is over in Italy, where Fabio Paratici's network of contacts has come in handy over the last few years.
Spurs are rumoured to be in the chase for Bologna star Riccardo Calafiori, who has really impressed under Thiago Motta in Serie A and could come at a fairly affordable price. Elsewhere in the division, another attractive Italian centre-half may well be Torino's Alessandro Buongiorno.
Genoa 0-0 Torino
8.49
Lecce 0-1 Torino
8.47
Torino 3-0 Napoli
8.37
Salernitana 0-3 Torino
7.68
Torino 3-0 Atalanta
7.65
The Italian has been exceptional over the last eight months, and even finished 23/24 as Torino's best-performing player per 90 on average according to WhoScored.
Tottenham move already made for Buongiorno amid financial advantage
According to newspaper Tuttosport, Tottenham have "already moved" for Buongiorno pre-summer. While it isn't specified what Tutto mean by this, it presumably suggests some sort of approach or contact has been made to find out the costs of a potential deal.
It's also stated that Spurs' "spending power" will be key, and could hand them a financial advantage over the 24-year-old's plethora of other suitors abroad. Inter Milan, Napoli, Juventus and AC Milan are all interested in the centre-back, but they could have more trouble meeting his £34 million asking price.
Other reports have described Buongiorno as "vital" to the Torino cause, and his numbers suggest that he'd be worth a valuation of that amount.
