Journalist Ben Jacobs has confirmed on The Spurs Watch’s Twitter Space that Tottenham Hotspur hold an interest in Nicolo Zaniolo.
It has been reported that Spurs are keen on adding an Italian outfield player to their squad for the first time since the 1998/99 season when they brought in Paulo Tramezzani, with Zaniolo of Roma said to be high up on their transfer wishlist.
Zaniolo is still just 23 but has managed to rack up over 82 Serie A appearances despite having suffered two long-term injuries – something that doesn’t appear to have put off Spurs, who have reportedly already seen one loan bid with an obligation to buy for a fee of around £20m knocked back.
Jacobs has confirmed that Spurs’ interest is very real in Zaniolo this summer.
He said: “Zaniolo is a really versatile player, and you might even see Conte increase that versatility and use him a little bit deeper. He’s very capable of being moved to a kind of inverted full-back, but obviously is more known for playing further up the field.
Should Spurs pay £50 million for Zaniolo?
Yes!
No!
“Tottenham’s interest is very real, but as you say, Jose Mourinho, at this point, doesn’t really want to sell. And from Roma’s perspective, they would be putting a price of probably somewhere around £42-45m with add-ons on top, so it’s still going to cost about £50m, all-in.”
TIF Thoughts on interest in Zaniolo…
It’s no surprise that Antonio Conte is very keen on bringing in a player who has been hailed as a ‘genius‘ in Zaniolo given how versatile he is, as Conte loves players in that mould, with the signings of Richarlison and Ivan Perisic proof of this as they can both operate in multiple different roles.
However, given Tottenham have now already splashed out over £90m this summer, it remains to be seen whether to push the boat out to £50m for Zaniolo, who has a worrying injury record at such a young age, would be a good move for Spurs and Daniel Levy.