Sources: Tottenham plot raids to sign ‘world-class’ duo in January as Conte makes move for ‘lieutenant’ De Vrij
Tottenham are plotting to sign defensive stars Stefan de Vrij AND Matthijs de Ligt in January, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The Serie A stars, 22, have been identified by Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici as top targets ahead of the January window.
A Spurs source has told Football Insider that Inter Milan’s De Vrij, 29, and Juventus’ De Ligt, 22, are regarded as “world class” by the manager and recruitment chief.
Conte wants De Vrij, his defensive leader at former club Inter, to be his “lieutenant” at the north Londoners.
Spurs recognise it will be difficult to agree a fee with the Serie A champions in the mid-season window.
But De Vrij is out of contract in the summer of 2023 and, as revealed by Football Insider earlier this month, he has told friends he is interested in a potential move to Spurs.
The priority of Conte and Paratici is to sign at least one elite centre-back in January.
But they have now come round to thinking that they really two from that bracket if the club are to clinch a top-four Premier League finish this season.
Conte has been unimpressed with the centre-backs he has inherited since he took over as manager, and is further hampered by the “serious” injury sustained by star man Cristian Romero.
Football Insider revealed Spurs’ interest in De Ligt last Saturday (20 November).
He has not been an unqualified success at Juventus, where Paratici was in charge of transfers when he joined from Ajax in the summer of 2019 for an initial fee of £67.5million.
That made him the most expensive defender signing in Serie A history and came amid a Europe-wide transfer battle that also included the likes of Man United and Barcelona.
De Ligt has made 14 appearances for Juve this season but been left out of the starting XI for five of their 13 Serie A matches.
When everyone is fit and available, the preferred centre-back partnership has often been skipper Giorgio Chiellini and his fellow Euro 2020 hero Leonardo Bonucci.
In other news, Conte tells Tottenham he wants ‘£110m’ star to leave in January.