Tottenham identify £22m Cristian Romero replacement but Bournemouth see him as next Dean Huijsen

8 hours ago 65

According to a new report from Italy, Tottenham are expected to make a move for a versatile Serie A defender if they lose Cristian Romero, but they will face competition for the player from a fellow Premier League side.

While Tottenham are fighting hard to hang onto Romero, it has emerged over recent days that the Spurs vice-captain will tell Daniel Levy that he wants to join Atletico Madrid.

It stands to reason that the Lilywhites will thus be scouring the market for potential replacements and it has been widely reported that one Belgian centre-back is on their radar.

It was first reported back in May that Spurs were one of several Premier League clubs keen on landing Genoa defender Konki de Winter, who has emerged as an extremely consistent performer over the last two seasons.

Just over a week ago, Corriere dello Sport asserted that Tottenham have moved to the front of the queue to land Di Winter.

Tottenham battling Bournemouth for Koni de Winter

A new report in TuttoMercatoWeb has backed up Spurs’ interest in the versatile 23-year-old, who is capable of playing either side of central defence and at right-back.

The outlet claims that Tottenham have identified the Belgian international as a potential option to replace Romero, who could be on his way out of N17.

However, they face competition from Bournemouth, who are also keen to land De Winter after losing Dean Huijsen and being on the verge of losing Ilya Zabarnyi to PSG.

Additionally, the two Premier League clubs have been joined in the race for the Genoa man for Inter Milan, who have established a contract over a deal for De Winter over the last few hours.

How much would De Winter cost?

TMW say that even though Genoa paid just €8m (£6.9m) to make the centre-back’s loan move permanent last summer, they want more than three times as much as that to sell him.

The Italian side have put a valuation of €25m (£21.5m) on De Winter, who is seen by many clubs as one of the most interesting profiles across the Serie A.

Tottenham have a good relationship with Genoa, having signed Radu Dragusin from the club 18 months ago and having loaned out Djed Spence to the Ligurian side. They may be hoping to use that to their advantage in their pursuit of De Winter.