Spurs and Bournemouth are both linked with the same defender - but who will win the transfer battle?
Sign up to our newsletter for the most distinctive football content delivered direct to your inbox
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to 3 Added Minutes, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Submitting...
Bournemouth’s defence is in the process of being gutted this summer, and Andoni Iraola has quite a job on his hands with Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez already gone and Ilia Zabarnyi likely to follow – but he isn’t the only Premier League manager worrying about losing defenders in the transfer market.
Tottenham Hotspur and Thomas Frank have spent much of the summer sweating about the future of Cristian Romero, who may yet end up heading to Madrid – and if he were to leave, they would lose a major physical presence in defence as well as a defender who’s excellent in one-on-one situations.
With Romero’s possible departure hanging over their heads, they have of course identified a defender they can sign should they need. It just so happens that it seems to be precisely the same player that Bournemouth want to fill their own defensive void…
Why Spurs & Bournemouth both want Koni de Winter
If Spurs do lose Romero, then they may well appreciate the ways in which De Winter’s best traits overlap with the experienced Argentine’s. Romero was superb against dribblers trying to beat him one-on-one, winning 70% of his ground duels in the Premier League last season, and De Winter is just as good, winning 68% in Serie A.
Furthermore, De Winter – who stands at 6’3” and has plenty of spring in his heels – is an impressive aerial presence who handles crosses well and who is seldom caught out of position. Were Spurs to lose Romero and sign De Winter, they may not miss the more experienced player’s ability to dominate the box too badly.
For all those same reasons, of course, Bournemouth are keen too, and Fabrizio Romano reported on Thursday that they have “joined the race” (not that they weren’t widely reported as being in it already) and saw De Winter as a replacement for Zabarnyi, who is expected to leave for PSG in the coming weeks.
Even if Zabarnyi somehow stays, they may will try to sign De Winter to cover for the absence of Huijsen, one of the very best young players of the 2025/26 season and another centre-half who was always in the right place at the right time and who was seldom beaten one-on-one either on the ground or in the air.
De Winter becomes even more appealing given that he’s comfortable with the ball at his feet and happy to bring the ball out of defence and spring counter-attacks, even if he lacks the remarkably impressive passing range exhibited both by Huijsen and by Spurs’ other centre-back, Micky van de Ven. De Winter is a young defender whose qualities mesh neatly with the way that Spurs and Bournemouth try to play football, and who could provide a very adequate replacement for excellent players who are leaving or have already left. The question is who will win the race…
Will Spurs or Bournemouth win the race to sign De Winter?
Bournemouth appear to have one major advantage in the hunt for De Winter right now – they’re the only team who appear to be ready to make a bid. Spurs seem to be taking up a holding pattern, likely waiting to find out what happens with Romero. Bournemouth, down one defender and knowing fine well they will be down two very soon, are getting ready to move.
The disadvantage that they have, however, is that they aren’t the biggest team in the race. Neither, come to that, are Spurs. Inter Milan have been monitoring De Winter for some time, and may well make a bid before long. The Nerazzurri cast a long shadow over the process, and their presence may explain why Bournemouth have yet to bid – it may well be that De Winter’s representatives have communicated that he wants to wait to see whether Inter make an offer.
Inter may not make a bid, however, as their primary target appears to be young Parma centre-back Giovanni Leoni, a target for quite a few teams (he has been linked with Spurs, as it happens). Sign Leoni, and De Winter will be left for others. Miss out, and they may very well blow Bournemouth out of the water.
But it’s perhaps Spurs who should be moving most urgently. They have the clout and cash to turn De Winter’s head and even if they don’t end up losing Romero, there’s a clear need for another centre-back who can offer a similar combination of control, poise and physical presence.
With Van de Ven’s injury history and little proven depth behind Spurs’ first choice centre-backs, they’d be foolish not to make a move – and the asking price isn’t too steep, with a number of outlets reporting that Genoa want €25-30m (£21.5-26m). For a 23-year-old of De Winter’s apparent qualities it looks like a bargain, especially relative to Spurs’ spending power.
As it stands, there are no credible reports suggesting that any of the teams involved have submitted a formal bid for De Winter, but that may change soon – and Spurs should perhaps try to take advantage of Inter and Bournemouth’s hesitation. Whoever lands De Winter will sign a mature, composed and potent defender. That’s something all three teams sorely need.