Tottenham Hotspur are now beginning to seriously step up their preparations for success under Thomas Frank.
Tottenham have signed Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United and he’s already impressed in his pre-season minutes against Reading.
Spurs are also trying to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest, a deal that is being delayed owing to complaints from the City Ground.
And after qualifying for Champions League football in the season to come, Tottenham’s spending is unlikely to stop there.
Spurs are interested in Brentford’s Yoane Wissa, and now a new Premier League player is high on the shortlist in north London.
Tottenham make offer to sign Ilya Zabarnyi from Bournemouth
According to journalist Duncan Castles who was appearing on ‘The Transfers Podcast’, Spurs have just tabled a €70m bid for Bournemouth defender Ilya Zabarnyi.
TBR Football recently revealed that Tottenham had been in contact about Zabarnyi, and now Castles believes that Spurs’ bid goes beyond the initial fee they paid for Dominic Solanke.
Castles explained: “Ilya Zabarnyi, who Paris Saint-Germain have been working on a deal for about six months in reality, but actively working with Bournemouth for three months, I’m told, their offer for the Ukraine center back is €60m.
“They believe they should be able to secure the player at that price, and the player definitely wants to come to them — has agreed personal terms with PSG and is pushing for the move.
“But Tottenham, one of several Premier League clubs who are unsurprisingly interested in the 22-year-old, one of the quickest centre-backs in the Premier League and almost a perfect attendance record in the Premier League over his two seasons at Bournemouth.
“Guidance from Bournemouth is that Tottenham have offered €70m for the player, which is owner Bill Foley’s asking price, and which would represent a new club record transfer fee for Tottenham, exceeding the initial £55m with £10m of variables that they paid Bournemouth for Dominic Solanke last summer.
“If Zabarnyi is to move to Tottenham rather than Paris Saint-Germain, Bournemouth will have to convince the player to give up on the idea of joining the European Champions for the Europa League winners and a club who finished well down the English table last season.
“That, I think, is going to be a difficult ask, but let’s see how it pans out over the next week or so.”
Tottenham wanted Ilya Zabarnyi whilst Antonio Conte was in charge
Interestingly, Tottenham were linked with Zabarnyi all the way back in 2022 whilst Antonio Conte was in charge of the club, deploying a three centre-back system.
Zabarnyi was playing for Dynamo Kyiv at the time, and he’s obviously come a long way since, making 86 appearances for Bournemouth in two seasons, a player who former teammate Philip Billing called ‘unbelievable’.
But were Zabarnyi to arrive under Frank, perhaps he could end up playing in a three-man system in somewhat similar fashion to what might have been envisioned under Conte.
Cristian Romero looks set to stay at Tottenham and there’s certainly no doubt over Micky van de Ven’s immediate future.
And therefore if Spurs were able to agree a deal with Bournemouth, perhaps that would be with the idea of playing Zabarnyi on the right of Romero, with Van de Ven on the left.
It’s the kind of signing that would give Frank some welcome flexibility at the back.