Man Utd, Spurs fear hijack as Euro giants ‘push’ to meet transfer ‘request’ to land Ange’s ‘top’ target

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·5 January 2024

Man Utd, Spurs fear hijack as Euro giants ‘push’ to meet transfer ‘request’ to land Ange’s ‘top’ target

Matteo Guendouzi battles Radu Dragusin.

According to reports, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur face competition in the race to sign Radu Dragusin from Serie A outfit Genoa.

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Man Utd and Spurs have had issues at centre-back this season. Lisandro Martinez has been out for much of this season, while the London outfit have been without Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero of late.

They are understood to be monitoring similar targets as they attempt to sign a new centre-back as they have both been linked with OGC Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo and Genoa’s Dragusin.

With Todibo reportedly unlikely to leave Nice until the summer, Spurs have pivoted to Dragusin as they do not want to wait until the end of the window to get a new defender through the door.

Spurs are not alone in pursuing Dragusin, though. It’s been claimed that Man Utd are ‘willing to pay’ £35m to beat their Premier League rivals to the signing.

The race to sign Dragusin has now become even more complicated, though. Sky Italia are reporting Napoli are ‘pushing’ to sign him as – like Tottenham – he is at the ‘top’ of their ‘wish list’.

Napoli are ‘trying to overtake the English and get closer to Genoa’s request (35 million euros) through technical countermeasures’, with Leo Ostigard and Alessandro Zanoli put ‘on the table’ for a potential swap deal.

This report has been backed up by ESPN, who claim Napoli are ‘attempting to rival Tottenham in the race to sign Genoa defender Dragusin’. The report adds.

‘Spurs remain in talks with Genoa over a fee for the 21-year-old, who has indicated a willingness to move to north London but the situation has been complicated by Napoli stepping up their interest. ‘Reports in Italy suggest Serie A champions Napoli are ready to make a player-plus-cash offer which could drive the asking price beyond the £20-£25 million range in which Spurs were hoping to reach an agreement. ‘Talks are ongoing with a source confirming to ESPN that Drăgusin’s agent is expected to hold further negotiations today and Tottenham are still hopeful of completing a deal.’

Before the winter transfer window opened, Postecoglou suggested Spurs are not going to pull off anything “magical” in January.

“Nothing magical’s going to happen in the January window,” Postecoglou said.

“What we need to do is just keep building. We’ve had one window with this team to change it around, to do things differently.

“The fact that we’re in the (fifth) position we are is a credit to the players. For all the challenges we’ve had, we just kept ploughing forward and that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ll see what we can do in January, but ultimately it’s about building a side that will get us to where we want to.”