Tottenham Hotspur are one of the clubs interested in the signing of Nikola Milenkovic this summer.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by La Nazione (via Sport Witness), who claim that, following a number of recent reports linking Fabio Paratici with a move for the AFC Fiorentina centre-back, Tottenham are indeed keeping a very close eye on the situation of the 24-year-old – with it being said that a resolution regarding the Serbia international’s future could be found in the next few days.
The report goes on to state that, with I Viola also thought to be one of the clubs interested in the signing of Spurs midfielder Giovani Lo Celso this summer, should Paratici launch a €15m (£12.5m) move for the defender over the remainder of the summer transfer window, this could open the door for Vincenzo Italiano’s side to submit an offer for the Argentina international.
Paratici can axe Lo Celso with Milenkovic
With it being well documented that Lo Celso is surplus to Antonio Conte’s requirements at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium heading into the 2022/23 campaign – with Spurs reportedly making the 26-year-old available for a figure of €24m (£20m) this summer – it would very much appear as if Paratici could be killing two birds with one stone in a move for Milenkovic.
Indeed, the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick recently claimed in a post on Twitter that, should both Japhet Tanganga and Joe Rodon move onto pastures new this summer – with the former believed to be close to a move to AC Milan and the latter reported to be nearing a switch to Stade Rennais – the Italian sporting director will need to add a new centre-back to Conte’s squad ahead of the new season.
And, considering just how impressive Milenkovic was for Fiorentina last season, the £18m-rated defender would appear to be something a perfect replacement for either Tanganga or Rodon in Conte’s first-team squad.
Indeed, over his 34 Serie A outings in 2021/22, the £74.5k-per-week talent highly impressed, helping Fiorentina keep nine clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.6 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, 2.7 clearances and winning 5.1 duels – at a success rate of 66% – per game.
These returns saw the player who Dejan Stankovic dubbed “fearless” average an eye-catching SofaScore match rating of 7.00, ranking him as his club’s third-best performer in the top flight of Italian football last time out.
As such, with Tottenham very much looking as if they will be in need of a new centre-back ahead of the upcoming campaign, coupled with the fact the north London side are hoping to get the £100k-per-week wages of Lo Celso – who John Wenham dubbed a “disaster” earlier this year – off of their books this summer, a move for Milenkovic would very much appear to make a great deal of sense for Paratici in the coming days.
