Spurs are never far away from being linked with a Serie A player, and the latest name doing the rounds is that of Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo, who the club pushed hard for last summer, but to no avail.
Reports today have surfaced from Calcio Mercato (via Eurosport) that Spurs have rekindled their interest in Zaniolo after his latest round of contract talks with Roma have hit an unsavoury impasse, with the young Italian unhappy with the terms offered by the Romans.
With Zaniolo’s contract up in 18 months, the report adds that the likelihood that Zaniolo’s failure to agree to a contract extension with Roma would see the club willingly let him go on the cheap either now or in the summer has aroused the interests of both Spurs and Newcastle United.
This is despite his underwhelming form so far this season, in which Zaniolo has scored once (and registered no assist) in 13 outings in the red of Roma. Indeed, Conte reportedly remains a big fan of the Italian and his versatility, which was itself a large factor in Spurs’ pursuit of Zaniolo last summer.
However, Eddie Howe and Conte are not Zaniolo’s only admirers. Former Spurs boss and Zaniolo’s current coach, Jose Mourinho, has also long been an enamoured with the midfielder, and will not let him go without a fight, as proved to be the case last summer, when the Portuguese tactician’s interventions reportedly prevented Roma from being willing negotiators with Spurs for Zaniolo.
His fondness of the Itay international became even more evident today when he had to even stand up in defence of the 23-year-old today after he was booed off the pitch in Roma’s Coppa Italia victory over Serie B Genoa on Thursday following a supposedly underwhelming individual performance:
‘They can boo the team, the result, whatever they want but not [the] individual. When there is a person who takes a salary from Roma and then criticizes the players in front of the microphones, he opens the door to boos and people listen to him,” said Mourinho after his side’s victory (quotes courtesy of the Daily Mail).
“I’m sorry for Zaniolo and I’m sorry that my club doesn’t have the strength to go straight, because in these situations you have to do it’.”
It therefore remains to be seen whether Zaniolo and Roma can agree on fresh terms, and even then Mourinho is highly unlikely to be willing to let go of one his favourite players halfway through the campaign, irrespective of his indifferent form in the Italian capital.
Have your say on Spurs’ Zaniolo interest and their January transfer activity visiting the Vital Spurs fan forum here.