Antonio Conte will be hoping that Fabio Paratici can produce some more magic in the transfer market this summer as he looks to take Tottenham to the next level.
Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski have helped turn the season around. (Getty Images)
Tottenham are in need of cash in the summer to tie both Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski down to a permanent transfer after both players have been pivotal to Tottenham’s top four campaign.
Cristian Romero joined Tottenham from Atalanta on a season’s loan with an option- not obligation- for a €55m (£46.7m) permanent deal.
Romero has already caught the eye in a Spurs shirt on several occasions this season, putting on a near faultless display in North London and Tottenham main priority is to tie the 23-year-old old to a permanent contract having signed a five years contract just in case.
“I think the club bought him. I think so,” he said. “He’s on loan but we have an obligation to buy. We bought him!” – Conte when asked whether Romero will be at Tottenham next season.
Also, Tottenham signed Dejan Kulusevski on a season long-loan deal from Juventus with an option to make permanent for €30m in the summer and obligation to make it permanent in 2023 for €35m after fulfilling some clauses.
Having impressed so much since joining Spurs on loan from Juventus in the January transfer window, Tottenham are set to act early by triggering his £25million release clause in the summer instead of waiting until 2023 as a permanent stay now looks on the cards.
However, Spurs face Lloris replacement headache as Gollini’s loan deal contain an option to buy, which is thought to be around £13 million.
Tottenham will have Hugo Lloris around for another two seasons, but are staring straight ahead towards a Hugo-free future. (Getty Images)
Pierluigi Gollini, signed on loan from Atalanta, was supposed to be the answer to the question of who might succeed Hugo long term, but it now seems pretty probable that the Italian is going to return to Atalanta unsigned; his loan contract stipulated a mandatory purchase if he reached 20 appearances — he has ten to date and even if Hugo goes down injured for the rest of the season he won’t meet that threshold.
But, according to multiple sources including Alasdair Gold, Paratici is looking to address that issue in this summer’s transfer window… for free with money being spent on other positions.
The 49-year-old is set to repeat the transfer trick this summer as football.london understands that Spurs are currently the favourites to tie up a deal for West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone when his contract with the Baggies expires at the end of June.
Spurs are currently in negotiations to sign Sam Johnstone on a pre-contract. (Getty Images)
Johnstone’s contract at West Brom expires at the end of this season, and he’s expressed a willingness to come and back up Hugo with an eye towards eventually taking his spot between the sticks. which in turn suggests that Pierluigi Gollini’s loan move from Atalanta will not be made permanent.