Roberto De Zerbi is hoping to raid his old club Brighton to charge up Tottenham Hotspur’s rebuild, with Carlos Baleba, Jan Paul van Hecke and Bart Verbruggen at the top of his transfer targets.
There is naturally an acceptance they may not get all of those, which is why Spurs are also looking at Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Manchester City’s James Trafford.
Tottenham are even considering a deal for John Stones in order to bring in some badly-needed leadership.
open image in galleryThe club hierarchy are fully willing to back De Zerbi after negotiations that secured a “Hail Mary” appointment back in April to ultimately keep Tottenham in the Premier League. He naturally wants squad members that can quickly internalise his style, and sees the Brighton trio and “his players”.
Baleba is likely to prove the trickiest, given that Brighton want over £100m, and there is competition from Manchester United.
De Zerbi is also intent on a new goalkeeper despite Antonin Kinsky’s recent heroics, with Verbruggen knowing exactly how he plays.
open image in galleryThe club meanwhile want to bring in both Van Hecke and Senesi as centre-back options. The highly-rated teenager Luka Vuskovic is expected to sign a new deal and then go back on loan to Hamburg, were he hugely impressed this season on the club’s return to the Bundesliga – finishing as the league’s highest-scoring defender with six goals, recording the best duel success rate in the division (69.1 per cent) and being named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season.
Micky van de Ven meanwhile wants to stay, to form a strong centre-half line-up key to De Zerbi’s approach.
Stones would come under stronger consideration if any of the main targets fall through but De Zerbi realises the need for that kind of leadership, which is also why Spurs have sustained interest in Robertson following his emotional departure from Liverpool.
The club have already found that new opportunities have opened up now they’ve secured Premier League safety, which even extends to potential football leadership and executive roles.