Tottenham must get in transfer lane after fighting losing battles for £335m quartet | OneFootball

Less than a month on from Tottenham retaining their Premier League status on the final day of the season they’re making moves for four of the most sought-after talents in the English top flight. Just who exactly do they think they are?

With Cristian Romero set for the exit and the future Micky van de Ven in the balance despite Spurs insisting the Netherlands international is now for sale, the first signing of the Roberto De Zerbi era was announced on Thursday to address an emerging centre-back crisis in North London.

De Zerbi will reunite with Jan Paul van Hecke after Spurs agreed to pay Brighton a hefty £52m fee to sign the 26-year-old.

It was a predictable move made simple by no other team being willing to pay anywhere near that amount for a player with just one year left on his contract, and because of the archaic transfer sway of the traditional Big Six to draw players from so-called lesser teams, despite Brighton’s clear superiority over Spurs in the last two seasons.

De Zerbi is a key factor, too. Not just in the signing of Van Hecke, who has first-hand experience of the Italian’s methods and well-known tactical prowess, but in the strides they’ve taken to lure Sandro Tonali in a £100m move from Newcastle.

We don’t think it’s unfair to suggest that an approach from Thomas Frank’s Tottenham after a 17th-placed finish would have been laughed off by Tonali and his representatives. As of Monday, Tonali wanted to go to Tottenham, as Fabrizio Romano confirmed De Zerbi as key to the midfielder’s stance.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any problem with the player, financially or in terms of the contract,” he added.

“Also because the connection between Tonali and De Zerbi is very clear, both from the same city of Brescia, so the connection is very, very good.”

Romano later claimed Tonali is keen on Tottenham despite an “approach” from Manchester City, but after The Athletic reported that the competition they face from the Citizens is ‘serious’, our friends at TEAMtalk intimated that Tonali’s preference for Spurs was based largely around the fact that City were yet to really enter the running.

After City joined Tottenham in holding ‘talks’ with the Italian and his camp, Tonali started ‘seriously considering’ the move to join the eight-time Premier League winners. Because of course he is.

While they won’t have the same draw as they did under Pep Guardiola, Tonali is said to have been ‘particularly impressed by the wider package City outlined, including the long-term vision for the player’. Champions League football and the chance of a title challenge under new manager Enzo Maresca can’t hurt either.

For now we should commend the bold transfer approach from Spurs. At this stage in the transfer window, why shouldn’t they lean on what is clearly enduring transfer sway in a bid to attract the best players possible? But at some point – if (when) they miss out on Tonali and two other fanciful targets – they’re going to have to get in their lane.

The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed on Thursday that they’re also ‘keen’ on £85m West Ham star Mateus Fernandes in what is a brazen entry into a race with Real Madrid and Manchester United, after Ben Jacobs claimed earlier this week that they had “called” to see if a hijack of United’s £50m move for Crycensio Summerville was on the cards. We can tell you, guys – it’s not.

Summerville is seen as an alternative option to Manchester City star Savinho, who – like Van Hecke – is the perfect target for Spurs, in that no other team wants him.

And while the Spurs chiefs may well be ‘confident’ that they have a ‘genuine chance of completing’ the £100m signing of Adam Wharton from Crystal Palace, as reported by our friends at TEAMtalk, that will only be the case if any of his other admirers – Liverpool, for example – don’t join the battle to land him this summer.

As soon as their more attractive rivals get a sniff of a potential move, Tottenham will be dismissed by Wharton having been snubbed by Tonali, Summerville and Wharton.