Ange Postecoglou has made no secret that he wants to sign a new centre-back and Bologna star Riccardo Calafiori is reportedly top of his shortlist.
The talented 22-year-old enjoyed a fantastic 2023/24 campaign in which he helped Bologna secure qualification for the Champions League for the first time in 60 years.
Calafiori made 30 league appearances for the Italian club, scoring two goals, making five assists and helping his team to 15 clean sheets in the process.
The youngster’s excellent performances have seen him rewarded with a spot in Italy’s Euro 2024 squad and he played the full 90 minutes of their 2-1 win over Albania on Saturday.
This has only increased the interest in Calafiori’s signature and according to TuttoJuve, Tottenham have ‘made contact with Bologna’ over a deal for the defender in ‘recent hours.’
Postecoglou reportedly views Calafiori as the perfect player to compete with the likes of Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin.
However, amid rival interest from Serie A giants Juventus, winning the race for Calafiori will be far from easy for Spurs.
Tottenham plan to hijack Juventus ‘agreement’
The report claims that Juventus already have an ‘agreement’ in place with Calafiori, who would prefer to stay in the Serie A next season.
Although, the defender has admitted that his ‘dream’ is to play in the Premier League one day.
“I have two images; going back to Italy, perhaps in Rome, or my dream would be to play in the Premier League,” Calafiori said in a recent interview.
Bologna’s manager from this season Thiago Motta has just joined Juventus and he wants to take the centre-back with him to the Allianz Stadium.
Spurs, however, are doing all they can to derail Motta’s move for his former player and are reportedly willing to ‘outbid’ Juventus – so the decision may ultimately be down to Bologna.
It’s stated that Calafiori is currently valued at £29m but his price tag could ‘skyrocket’ if he has a good Euro campaign, which is why both Tottenham and Juve are keen to get a deal done as soon as possible.
Calafiori is under contract until 2027 though and Bologna are in no rush to sell, so they may wait until the end of the tournament before considering offers.
They also want to have the strongest squad possible for 2024/25 and will not part ways with the centre-back easily.
It will be interesting to see how Calafiori performs for Italy in the coming weeks and how high Spurs are willing to go with their offer.
