Who is Radu Dragusin? An overview of Tottenham's new signing | OneFootball

Radu Dragusin has joined Tottenham Hotspur from Genoa, bolstering the club's centre-back options. During the first half of the 2023/2024 Premier League season, both first-team defenders Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero suffered from injury, highlighting the need for defensive reinforcement. Romanian Dragusin provides support for the club.

The 21-year-old centre-back joined Genoa in the summer of 2022 on loan when they were sitting in Serie B. The club activated the option to sign him permanently in the following January, before he helped them finish second in the table, securing promotion to the Serie A. He has impressed fans and journalists in Europe with his strength and defensive abilities.

Spurs fended off interest from Bayern Munich to sign Dragusin. The German champions had a bid accepted for him by Genoa, but the centre-back chose to join the Premier League club instead, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano. The overall package for the player was over £25 million, with English right-back Djed Spence going in the opposite direction on loan. Dragusin joined Spurs as their second signing of the January transfer window after former Chelsea striker Timo Werner arrived on loan from RB Leipzig, where he couldn't wait to return to the league, until the end of the 2023/2024 season.

However, here's everything you need to know about Radu Dragusin. From key information about the centre-back to his style of play and performances at Genoa. Capped 13 times by Romania, as of the 10th January 2024, Dragusin is expected to consistently impress in the Premier League.

Key information

Age, Position, Height

Born on 3rd February 2002, Dragusin is 21-years-old. It makes him a young and talented centre-back, who still has room to improve drastically. He is 1.91 metres (six feet, three inches) tall, making him taller than club teammate Romero by six centimetres, but shorter than Dutchman van de Ven by two teammates. The average height of a Premier League centre-back is 188cm, so Dragusin is narrowly taller than other competitors in the league.

The centre-back weighs 75kg, allowing him to outmuscle attackers and dominate the defensive third. As highlighted in clips of the defender, he has an aggressive and powerful nature, which is only helped by his weight and height. Dragusin grew up in Romania for the first 16 years of his life, playing for the academy at FC Sportul Studențesc București, before he eventually moved to Juventus for a fee of just over £200,000. After joining the Italian giants, he struggled to break into the first team, making ten appearances for the U23 team, yet just one for the senior team. It highlights his struggles at the club before Genoa acted as a lifeline for him at a crucial moment in his career.

Dragusin's style of play

An aggressive ball-playing centre-back

Dragusin was one of the most entertaining and aggressive centre-backs in Serie A when playing for Genoa. Often operating as a left centre-back in a three-man defence, his role was different to what is expected at Tottenham, yet the Romanian has consistently shown he is capable of adapting. He's often been described as a 'brick wall' due to his character in defence. Before we go into more detail, the Romanian is deceptively impressive on the ball, which - coupled with his aggressive option - makes him an intriguing centre-back. Placing him in a ball-playing team like Spurs will highlight his ability with the ball at his feet.

At Genoa, he was only able to showcase his passing talents from deeper positions, particularly when setting up counter-attacks. According to Opta, Genoa ranked 18th out of 20 teams for possession up to the 10th January 2024 in the Serie A 2023/2024 season, averaging just 42.9% possession, showcasing exactly why Tottenham were keen to acquire his services. It's a drastically different approach to Tottenham, who averaged 59.6% possession up until the same day in the 2023/2024 Premier League campaign, but - as previously mentioned - Dragusin has adapted before in his career.

Highlighting his style of play and nature as a centre-back, Transfermarkt’s Romanian expert Florin Manea said:

Stats at Genoa

One of the best in the league

Dragusin's season and a half at Genoa showcased the raw but exciting talent at his disposal. During the 2022/2023 Serie B campaign, where Genoa finished second and secured promotion, he was at the heart of their defence. He played all 38 matches in the league, even scoring four goals. With a pass accuracy of 84.2%, according to Fotmob, he showed his ability to be trusted when playing out from the back - and, with a long ball accuracy of 40.1%, he could also quickly start attacks with a Toby Alderweireld-esque long ball; music to the ears of Spurs fan.

Defensively, his 48 interceptions, 148 recoveries, 91 aerial duels won, and 21 successful tackles highlighted his aggressive nature. He was feared by attackers in Serie B, known for being unstoppable on his day when trying to get past him. Below is a range of stats from his campaign in Serie B.

Meanwhile, in his first few months in Serie A with Genoa, Dragusin continued to highlight his talent, which ultimately led to links with Tottenham and Bayern Munich. According to Fotmob, his pass accuracy dropped slightly from the previous campaign to 82.8%, whilst his long ball accuracy dropped to 30.5%. Meanwhile, he still proved an attacking threat from defence, scoring two goals and creating seven chances. As highlighted by completing 21 interceptions, 88 duels and 11 tackles, Dragusin remained a strong defender in one of the world's toughest leagues, despite Genoa sitting midtable in the league. Once again, below is a selection of stats from his time up until his move to Tottenham in January 2024.

How he fits in at Tottenham

Providing support to Romero and van de Ven

To conclude, Radu Dragusin is an exciting defender who will help Ange Postecoglou continue to rebuild Tottenham. When Postecoglou was appointed in the summer of 2023, they were set to lose Harry Kane and struggle after the underwhelming spells with José Mourinho and Antonio Conte. As of the 10th January 2024, Spurs sit fifth in the table, six points off league leaders Liverpool. Despite injuries in the first half of the 2023/2024 campaign, they are still competing for major honours.

Dragusin helps Spurs fix their defensive concerns when van de Ven and Romero are out injured. He played most of his matches at Genoa as a left centre-back in a three-man defence, but he is also right-footed. It allows him to cover for Romero or van de Ven when injuries or suspension eventually arise. At the start of the 2023/2024 season, Spurs had no out-and-out defensive centre-back cover, with full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal being forced to play there instead. Dragusin helps solve that issue.

Transfermarkt’s Italian expert, Jatin Dietl, believes Dragusin was a clever signing for Spurs.

After the signings of Dragusin and Werner in the 2024 January transfer window, Spurs have a stronger squad to be able to attempt to qualify for the 2024/2025 Champions League.