Spurs News

Tottenham eye highly-rated defender, asking price could be stumbling block

|

According to Leggo (h/t Sport Witness), Tottenham are in the race for Nikola Milenkovic. The highly-rated Fiorentina defender, who has attracted interest from Juventus and Manchester United, could be a long-term replacement for one of Toby Alderweireld or Jan Vertonghen – both of whom have uncertain futures.

Mauricio Pochettino has been linked with a host of central defenders this season – Manchester United’s Eric Bailly, Real Sociedad’s Diego Llorente, West Ham United’s Declan Rice and Sampdoria’s Joachim Andersen, to name a few. Spurs can trigger a 12-month extension on Alderweireld’s contract so they can avoid losing him next summer, but Milenkovic could be another option.

The 21-year-old has made 31 appearances in all competitions for Fiorentina, having joined the Serie A club from FK Partizan Belgrade in 2017. Milenkovic, who boasts 10 caps for the Serbian national team, has been a regular for the Violas this season, featuring in all 14 of their league outings, although he’s been at right-back so far.

His asking price could slow Tottenham down, however, with reports that United had a bid of £53.5m knocked back in the past. It’s hard to see Spurs spending a similar amount for a 21-year-old operating in a makeshift role this season without confirming Alderweireld and Vertonghen’s contract situation.

Crippy Cooke’s previous article

Good news as Tottenham-target is ‘absent from training’ and keen to ‘move away’

Share this article

Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.