Tottenham transfer ‘rebuffed’ as ‘excellent’ Newcastle, Aston Villa target ‘agrees move’ to Euro giants | OneFootball

Tiago Djalo in action for Lille.

Tottenham Hotspur and several other Premier League clubs have missed out on Lille defender Tiago Djalo, who has ‘agreed’ to sign for another team.

It’s been made clear in recent weeks that Ange Postecoglou‘s top priority for this winter transfer window is to sign a new centre-back after Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.

After initially being linked with OGC Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, Tottenham identified Radu Dragusin as their preferred target and they managed to beat Bayern Munich, Napoli and AC Milan to secure his services. His £25m move to the Premier League side was confirmed on Thursday evening.

Spurs have also been linked with other potential targets at centre-back and it’s not been revealed that Djalo has been on their radar.

Former Sporting Lisbon head coach Tiago Fernandes – who worked with Djalo at the Portuguese club – described the centre-back as an “excellent player”.

“Djalo is an excellent player. He’s very fast with a high concentration level in one-on-one situations,” Fernandes told Sport Italia.

“And his speed must be underlined because, if you play with Tiago in the team, you know that you can keep the defensive line very high as he’s capable of controlling large spaces behind him.

“He’s very good at building up the play, controlling the ball and launching attacking plays. He has an excellent ability to decide how to manage the ball inside the opponent’s half. He can also pull off a good pass between the lines for the attackers.

“And whenever he loses the ball, he is very quick at tracking back to recover it.”

The 23-year-old was reportedly being monitored by several elite clubs after impressing for Lille during the 2022/23 campaign but his chances of getting a summer move ended when he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in March 2023.

Djalo is yet to play a single minute this season but he is due to return to action soon but may have already played his last game for Lille.

Journalist Graeme Bailey for HITC is reporting that Tottenham were ‘interested’ in signing Djalo but he has ‘agreed a move’ to Serie A giants Juventus. The report adds.