Fabrizio Romano reveals why Spurs chose Destiny Udogie over Pervis Estupinan

Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur could have signed Pervis Estupinan instead of Destiny Udogie this summer.

Tottenham initially strengthened at left wing-back with the signing of Ivan Perisic on a free transfer at the start of the summer after the Croat’s contract with Inter Milan ran out.

The 33-year-old is expected to compete with Ryan Sessegnon for a place in Antonio Conte’s starting eleven this season.

Last week, Spurs agreed on a fee of £18m including add-ons with Udinese for Destiny Odogie, with the North London club loaning the 19-year-old back to the Serie A club for the 2022/23 season.

Estupinan is another left-back who was said to be on Tottenham’s radar earlier this summer, with Marca reporting last month that the Lilywhites were leading the race for the 24-year-old.

This week, Brighton snapped up Estupinan for a fee of £15m from Villarreal, with the left-back replacing Marc Cucurella, who joined Chelsea earlier this summer.

Romano has now suggested that it was Conte who pushed for Tottenham to sign Udogie rather than the former Villarreal man. 

The journalist said on the Here We Go Podcast (16/08/22): “Udogie is a signing for the future, he’s signed the contract and will join next summer, he’s going back on loan to Udinese now. Let me say that behind the scenes why Tottenham decided to sign Udogie now. 

“They had the possibility to sign Estupinan from Villarreal who is joining Brighton, but they went for Udogie because Antonio Conte is a big fan of this guy. 

“Paratici has been following him since he was at Verona, before Udinese, and he knows that many important clubs in Italy, Juventus and Inter, were following Udogie, so he wanted to sign Udogie immediately.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Following the signing of Perisic, it would not have made sense to go for a player like Estupinan, given that Spurs already had Sessegnon at their disposal. Given that Udogie is still only 19, Tottenham clearly view the Italian as someone who can potentially replace Perisic when the Croat departs in a couple of years.

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