Once again comfortably finishing in the top three of the Premier League last season, Tottenham, under Mauricio Pochettino, have become one of the teams to beat in England, now attempting to build on this new status to try and mount another title challenge.
Yet to sign anyone, Spurs have still been linked with quite a few players, mostly forwards and defenders, but with Mousa Dembélé not getting any younger, Moussa Sissoko flopping and Christian Eriksen being forcefully linked to Barcelona, a new midfielder might not hurt.
That is, at least, what appears to be going through Pochettino’s brain if the latest story from Italy is to be believed, as Il Mattino claim Tottenham have made a £25m offer for Napoli’s Piotr Zielinski.
Making 36 league appearances last season after his £11m move from Udinese, the Poland international has shown a lot of promise over the past couple of seasons.
Heavily linked with a move to Liverpool last summer, the 23-year-old eventually signed for the Serie A side, much to the displeasure of Jürgen Klopp.
However, Il Mattino make it clear that Spurs’ bid for the midfielder has been rejected, and that a bid closer to his €70m release clause would have a better chance of being accepted.
Whether he’s worth that much remains to be seen, but the promise is there and his five league goals and seven assists last season demonstrate his ability to be a much more effective outlet than, let’s say, Moussa Sissoko.
Sell the Frenchman and reinvest in Zielinski? There’s worse ideas out there.
