Tottenham ‘risk losing top target’ as Euro giants reach ‘pre-agreement’ to sign Man Utd-linked star | OneFootball

Radu Dragusin in action for Genoa.

According to reports, Tottenham Hotspur could miss out on Genoa defender Radu Dragusin as Serie A giants Napoli are stepping up their interest in him.

It has been made clear in recent weeks that Tottenham‘s top priority for this month’s transfer window is to sign a new centre-back.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero struck up a great partnership at the start of this season but the Tottenham standouts have been unavailable in recent weeks due to injury.

Spurs were initially being heavily linked with OGC Nice star Jean-Clair Todibo, but their move for him has collapsed amid reports suggesting he’s not likely to secure himself a big move elsewhere until the summer.

With Ange Postecoglou unwilling to wait too long to land a new defender, Spurs now have their eye on Dragusin, who has also been linked with a potential move to Manchester United.

The former Juventus starlet joined Genoa on an initial loan basis in 2022 but his move was made permanent during the 2023 January transfer window.

The 21-year-old has quickly emerged as a key player for Genoa as he’s made 61 appearances for them over the past 18 months across all competitions.

The two Premier League sides are not alone in targeting Dragusin and they could end up missing out on him. This is because Napoli are also pushing hard to snatch him from their Serie A rivals.

A report from Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport (via Caught Offside) claims Napoli have revised their proposal after they initially offered  €20m to Genoa along with Alessandro Zanoli and Leo Ostigard on a season-long loan.

Napoli have ‘accommodated a request’ as Genoa ‘sought a permanent transfer for Zanoli and a loan arrangement for Ostigard’ so the two clubs have ‘come to a draft pre-agreement and if Spurs do not send in a better offer, they risk losing their top target’.

If they do miss out on Dragusin, it would be a major blow for Spurs. Speaking ahead of the January transfer window, Postecoglou insisted that he would prefer to secure his targets “early”.

“Obviously if we can do business early, it’s great for us. Not just because of losing Romero but there’s a whole month there – why waste it?

“If you can bring them in early, even if they don’t play you can bed them into training and our style of football because it’s not like we’re going to sign somebody and they’ll hit the ground running.

“Whereas if you leave it towards the end of January, it’s potentially not until mid to end of February when they get up to speed, depending where they’re coming from, the league they’re coming from, so there’s a whole lot of moving parts.

“So, yes, I’d love to do something early in the window but even me saying that puts a challenge on us, because other clubs know we want to do something early.

“You’ve got to play the game, we’ll see what happens but I’m hopeful it will be much earlier than the end of the window before we bring someone in.”

Tottenham Hotspur Napoli