Insider reveals ‘secret’ Tottenham interest in exciting Serie A centre-back worth ‘crazy’ money
Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini on Italy duty
Fabrizio Romano has revealed Tottenham had a “secret” interest in Atalanta centre-back Giorgi Scalvini until they found out the club were asking for “crazy money”.
Spurs spent a lot of their summer looking to plug gaps in their defence. After they conceded 63 Premier League goals and finished eighth last season, that seemed a necessary first move for Ange Postecoglou when he took the job.
Last term, Eric Dier, Ben Davies and Clement Lenglet were three of the four most used defenders. In the Premier League this season, Dier and Davies have played a combined 324 minutes, with the former only making his first appearance due injury problems elsewhere.
That suggests neither of those men are particularly high up in Postecoglou’s estimations, and Lenglet is no longer at the club, having only been on loan last season.
In place of him, the Australian boss signed Micky van de Ven, from Wolfsburg.
The Dutchman impressed last season to the point Liverpool were also looking at him, but Spurs won the race for the £43million man.
Tottenham will be happy with his performances so far, as they were flying high and at one point top of the league when he was in the side, and have dropped down a few places after he was injured against Chelsea, highlighting his centrality to the side.
However, it could have been a different centre-back that was taking his place in the Spurs defence had things panned out slightly differently.
Tottenham underwent ‘secret’ Scalvini pursuit
Van de Ven was by no means the only centre-back Tottenham were after. It was well documented that Edmond Tapsoba was high on their shortlist.
However, transfer insider Romano has revealed the under-the-radar pursuit of Scalvini they were making, before it became apparent he’d cost too much.
“He’s still very young and playing at a top level with Atalanta for a long time, he’s on the radar of many clubs. For example, from what I heard, Tottenham last summer were considering a move for Giorgio Scalvini,” Romano said on Kick.
“He was one of the players, the secret players, they had in the list at Tottenham, then they decided to go for something different – also because Atalanta were asking for crazy money for Scalvini,”
While it’s not clear how much the crazy fee would have been, it’s safe to assume it was probably some way above the £43million they splashed on Van de Ven.
Scalvini could find new home
Romano suggests Scalvini is still on the radar of a lot of other sides after Tottenham decided against the snare.
It’s not hard to see why, given the towering 19-year-old has already made seven senior appearances for Italy, and has only missed two Atalanta games this season, both through injury.
Romano also stated: “He’s a very talented player, we know him very well in Italy, he’s probably less known around Europe but this boy is very, very good.”
While he did not mention which sides are keen on Scalvini, reports have suggested Manchester United and Liverpool both have him on their radars.
A number of big Serie A sides have also been mentioned in the past, too, but United are said to have taken the advantage due to their ‘excellent’ relationship with Atalanta, which saw them sign Rasmus Hojlund this summer.
