Tottenham ‘Already Begun To Pull The First Financial Levers’ To Take Midfielder To N17 | OneFootball

Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur ‘have already begun to pull the first financial levers’ to convince Antonio Vergara to leave Napoli for N17 this summer.

Born in Frattamaggiore, the midfielder caught the eye of Napoli at a young age and joined the club’s academy set-up in 2014.

Vergara signed his first professional contract with Napoli in March 2021, but had to wait until 2025 to make his senior debut for Gli Azzurri.

He had productive loan spells at Pro Vercelli and Reggiana to hand him game time and prepare him for a Napoli return.

The 23-year-old had to wait until January for his first start for Napoli, but he went on to impress with his performances, making 12 Serie A appearances while contributing one goal and two assists.

Napoli view Vergara as a real gem, but are now having to deal with interest ramping up from Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham.

Spurs’ advances have already prompted the Neapolitans to work on a new contract for Vergara, which would see his wages increase and tie him down to the club until 2030.

The story is not over though despite Napoli having no intention of selling Vergara, while sporting director Giovanni Manna already values him at €30m.

Tottenham ‘have now begun to pull the first financial levers’ in their efforts to take Napoli’s jewel away from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, according to Italian daily Il Mattino (via Gonfia La Rete).

They want to convince Vergara to set his heart on moving to N17 and are prepared to hand him a huge pay rise on a long-term contract.

At present, Napoli pay Vergara just €300,000 per year and though a new deal would significantly change that, the Italian side may well now be able to offer the sums that Tottenham can.

Tottenham look to be seeing if they can tempt the midfielder first and only then try to break down the Napoli wall.

With the summer transfer window approaching, Tottenham have already hit the ground running in the market, having seen off competition from Fenerbahce and Juventus to secure the services of Andrew Robertson.

With the north London club looking to add quality to their squad and push for higher ambitions next season, they are also working hard to retain Pedro Porro amid interest in the defender, having placed a substantial valuation on him ahead of the transfer window.

De Zerbi will want his fingerprints all over the Tottenham squad by the time the window closes at the start of September, but the jury is still out on whether he will get Vergara.