Tottenham scouts closely watching Inter Milan ‘animal’ – Insider
Tottenham missed out on a deal to sign Alessandro Bastoni despite sending officials to track his progress, according to the club’s former scout.
Mick Brown, who also spent time as the chief scout at Man United and Blackburn and remains very well-connected within the game, exclusively told Football Insider that he expected the defender to make the move to Spurs but no deal materialised.
Brown recalled watching him play on a number of occasions for Italy’s under-21s side and insisted he would have been an ideal signing for any Premier League side.
Now aged 25, Bastoni has become one of the most highly-regarded centre-backs in Europe and remains a crucial part of Simone Inzaghi’s team.
Tottenham’s interest came during Fabio Paratici’s spell at their director of football, with his connections in Italy driving the possibility of the deal.
Brown went on to explain that the centre-back was very highly thought-of in North London, and likely still is given his presence and stature in the game.
Tottenham missed out on deal to sign Inter Milan star
Tottenham have often suffered from issues at centre-back and are facing similar concerns now, as they look to enter the transfer market following injuries to Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.
Brown, who has a wealth of experience in top-level player recruitment after over a decade at Man United during their most successful period, insisted that he has expected Bastoni to move to the Premier League, but acknowledged his importance to Inter.
“One player I’m a big fan of is Bastoni from Inter Milan,” he told Football Insider.
“He’s been a regular in the national team for a while now, but I used to watch him a lot while he was captain of their under-21s.
“He’s an animal defensively, not afraid to step in and he’s so aggressive, but comfortable on the ball too and he can play out.
“I always thought he was one to make the move to the Premier League.
“I expected him to go to Spurs, actually.
“They were keeping an eye on him and had sent scouts to watch him on numerous occasions.
“That was thanks to their connections in the Italian market with the former Juventus director who was there.
“How far they got towards signing him, I’m not sure, but I know they wanted him and he was very highly thought-of there, so I expect he still is.
“By the looks of things, they might have missed out, because he’s a key player for Inter now.”
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