With the international break now upon us, and any games yet to be played, the Italian media need to fill their column inches, meaning it’s time for a transfer rumour overload.
One of the new(er) starlets in Serie A is Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella, who has already attracted plenty of interest from José Mourinho and Manchester United in the past.
The 21-year-old has also been heavily linked with Liverpool, with suggestions the Lebron James link could place them in the lead, yet Tottenham haven’t been mentioned as much.
That has now changed thanks to Corriere dello Sport, who claim on Thursday Spurs have made ‘in-depth enquiries’ about Barella.
The reason for this is their ‘firm conviction’ the Italy international has ‘top club potential’, one they would like to develop and own in the future.
This is presented as more serious than what the Italian media often call ‘probing’.
Joined by the likes of Atlético Madrid and, of course, Liverpool, Tottenham will face strong competition to acquire Barella’s services, who won’t come cheap, as his valuation has been touted to be €50m minimum.
It’s also worth pointing out the 21-year-old isn’t in any rush to leave Cagliari, where he feels at home and knows he’ll get the game time he needs to develop, having already manage to convince Roberto Mancini to call him up to the Italy squad.
Barella earned his first cap on October 10th, starting in a 1-1 friendly against Ukraine.
