Tottenham bid expected as Arsenal cool interest in striker Fabio Paratici is desperate to sign
Tottenham appear to have been handed a major boost to their hopes of signing Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic, with rivals Arsenal reportedly cooling their interest in the player.
The Serbia hotshot is one of the hottest properties in European football and has been attracting plenty of interest from a host of top clubs, including the north London duo. To that end, there is expected to be a major battle for his signature – although that may have to wait until the summer.
Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici is known to be a huge admirer of the 21-year-old from his time in Italy. Indeed, Vlahovic was a top target last summer when it looked as if Harry Kane could move to Manchester City.
Antonio Conte’s arrival at Tottenham appears to have calmed that talk down, for now. However, Vlahovic remains a priority target even if the England skipper stays, as Conte wants another central attacker in his squad.
And one major boost for Spurs has come from Goal, who claim that Arsenal have distanced themselves from the player.
The Gunners are also in the market for a new No.9, with Alexandre Lacazette expected to move on this summer. But it would appear that Vlahovic will not be heading to the red half of north London.
Arsenal turn to other targets
Arsenal are expected to focus their efforts on other targets instead, like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jonathan David.
That’s good news for Paratici and Spurs, who are now likely to step up their efforts to sign Vlahovic.
Vlahovic has scored 15 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions so far this season. He has also notched 44 times in 101 games for Fiorentina since signing from Partizan back in 2018.
The question now remains whether or not Tottenham will try and push through a deal in January. The likelihood is, however, that a summer transfer is more feasible.
Seven players Antonio Conte could sign for Tottenham in January
Tottenham hit by Covid outbreak
Meanwhile, Tottenham could ask for Sunday’s Premier League game against Brighton to be postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Spurs’ plans for a busy period of games have been hampered by Covid-19. A number of first-team players and two members of the coaching staff have tested positive ahead of further PCR tests on Tuesday, the PA news agency understands.
They have a crucial Europa Conference League game against Rennes on Thursday. And after that they have Premier League games at Brighton and Leicester.
They saw matches against Aston Villa and Fulham called off last season due to Covid-19. While two players posted false-positive results on a lateral flow test earlier this season, they were later cleared to play after a negative PCR test.
Boss Antonio Conte will be hoping something similar happens again and that there are no more positive tests ahead of a crunch period.
Calling the Rennes game off appears highly unlikely as, according to UEFA rules, a team needs to have fewer than 13 available players or no registered goalkeeper available for that to be the case.
If the situation does worsen, Spurs could consider asking the Premier League to postpone Sunday’s Brighton game.
The league works on a case-by-case basis. So if a club does request a game to be postponed, it would be a Premier League board decision.
Spurs are not commenting on the news.
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