Tottenham Hotspur and north London rivals Arsenal are being tipped to go head-to-head for an elite Serie A midfielder this summer, despite a switch back to the Premier League looking increasingly unlikely to happen.
For his part, under-pressure Spurs boss Thomas Frank has not been completely satisfied with the options available to him in the middle of the park, leading to the club moving for Conor Gallagher in the winter window.
Tottenham have also been hit hard by injuries in their engine room, with Rodrigo Bentancur ruled out for some time and No.10s Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison not playing a game all season long.
There is also a feeling that the current Spurs squad lacks experience, with Ben Davies and Joao Palhinha the only players aged 30 or over, something they are also looking at rectifying this summer.
One player who has been heavily linked with a switch to the Premier League is 31-year-old Bayern Munich and Germany star Leon Goretzka, who is firmly on the radars of the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal.
However, fresh reports from Italy claim that Tottenham and Arsenal are ready to battle it out for Napoli’s Scott McTominay, who will hit the 30 mark later in the year, and already has a ton of Premier League experience from his time at Manchester United.
The Scotland star has transformed his game in Naples, becoming one of the best goalscoring midfielders in Italian football as he helped Antonio Conte’s side to the Scudetto last season, and his stock has continued to grow over the course of the current campaign.
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Tottenham, Arsenal watching McTimninay closely
A report in AreaNapoli states that Tottenham are indeed big fans of McTominay and have continued to monitor his progress, although they claim that a battle with Arsenal is looking on that front.
Additionally, it is suggested that Man United could look to take the 29-year-old back to Old Trafford, with our sources previously revealing how the club are looking to fix what’s deemed a major transfer blunder.
However, the AreaNapoli report adds that the Serie A outfit are ‘aware of the growing interest from the Premier League’ in their midfielder and they are ‘keen to tie him down to a new contract’.
Indeed, they are expected to meet with McTominay’s agent to finalise the renewal at the end of the season, as they look to build their squad around one of their top stars.
It’s also reported that only an offer approaching €100m (£86.8m) would be good enough to tempt Napoli into a sale.
That sort of figure could be out of Tottenham’s reach, despite talk that the club are ready to splash the cash this summer, while Arsenal are unlikely to spend that much on an area of their team which is already incredibly strong.
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More Tottenham news: Striker signing hope; truths over defensive trio
Tottenham have learned that they could ‘entice’ a 116-goal striker to join them in the summer transfer window at the end of his ‘strange’ situation, but they face competition from Chelsea – and a third Premier League club.
Elsewhere, Spurs sources are adamant there is no looming defensive crisis, despite growing noise around the futures of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Luka Vuskovic, TEAMtalk has been informed.