Tottenham Hotspur could still return to Inter to propose an offer for one of the Italian side’s defenders this summer.
However, Dean Jones, who was speaking on the Ranks FC podcast, believes that could be for Stefan de Vrij rather than the widely speculated Alessandro Bastoni.
It was believed the latter was Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici’s main target going into this summer’s window, however, developments have all but shut down a potential move.
Spurs have been linked with De Vrij for around a year now, with reports suggesting Conte wanted to reunite with the Dutch defender if he was to take the manager’s job last summer.
With a move for alternative target Josko Gvardiol also seeming unlikely, Jones believes a move for long-term target De Vrij could be a possibility.
He said: “Bastoni and Gvardiol of RB Leipzig were the two top guys they wanted, and like, fair enough, they’re both brilliant. But they both were very unlikely and Spurs knew that.
“So then Pau Torres kind of came into that bracket underneath alongside a few others, which the names that I’ve been made aware of are Pau Torres, [Gleison] Bremer, Stefan de Vrij, Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace and Clement Lenglet at Barcelona.”
TIF Thoughts on Jones’ comments…
Interestingly, Noel Whelan has tipped De Vrij to become a Spurs legend should he join and even called him a ‘world-beater’.
This does feel like a deal which Spurs could potentially pursue this summer, with De Vrij having just one year now remaining on his deal at the San Siro.
Do you think Spurs could sign both Torres and De Vrij?
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If this was something Spurs look into, we would be interested to see whether they would look to make two additions at centre-back, with De Vrij not expected to be a big-money addition in the same way Bastoni was expected to be.
Given Spurs are still being linked to the likes of Pau Torres and believed to remain willing to spend big despite missing out on Bastoni, we do wonder if this means Tottenham feel they could now land two centre-backs this summer.