Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are among the clubs who have missed out on Lutsharel Geertruida, with RB Leipzig poised to sign the Netherlands star.
Geertruida has emerged into one of the most coveted players in the Eredivisie in recent years. He is versatile and can shine either in central defence or at right-back.
The 24-year-old was a crucial part of Arne Slot’s Feyenoord side which won the Dutch title in the 2022-23 season, while he also managed a hugely impressive nine goals and five assists from 47 games in defence last term.
Geertruida’s excellent performances for Feyenoord have seen him force his way into the Dutch national team and also emerge as a target for top clubs.
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Liverpool were swiftly linked with Geertruida after announcing Slot as their new head coach, though Reds sporting director Richard Hughes had different targets in mind.
Aston Villa admire Geertruida and have had him on their shortlist since July, while Tottenham have also been weighing up whether to launch a bid for the player.
However, both of those Premier League sides look set for disappointment. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Leipzig are on the verge of capturing Geertruida first.
The transfer has been given his ‘here we go’ confirmation, with a ‘flight booked’ and a medical scheduled for Friday, transfer deadline day.
Tottenham transfers: Lutsharel Geertruida heads elsewhere
Leipzig have agreed a deal worth more than €25million (£21m) to sign the Rotterdam-born ace.
The Bundesliga side have moved quickly to bring Geertruida in after allowing current defender Mohamed Simakan to move on.
Both Liverpool and Newcastle United have looked into capturing Simakan amid uncertainty surrounding Marc Guehi, but the Frenchman will actually be heading to Saudi Arabia instead.
Al-Nassr are close to signing Simakan for €45m (£37.8m), in a move which will see the 24-year-old play alongside Manchester United and Real Madrid icon Cristiano Ronaldo.
Leipzig have been tipped to replace Simakan with Benfica starlet Antonio Silva in a surprise twist, but Romano states that was never a real possibility.
Instead, once they learned that Simakan wanted to move on, Leipzig installed Geertruida as their No 1 target to strengthen their defensive options.
It will be interesting to see whether Spurs or Liverpool come back in for Geertruida in the future, should he impress for Leipzig.
After all, Leipzig often sell their best players to help them continue signing the best young talents around, and both Spurs and Liverpool have used this to their advantage in the past.
Plus, Slot knows Geertruida very well and would be able to ensure he gets the best out of him, should an Anfield switch be completed.