The Sun journalist Tom Barclay has claimed that Tottenham’s decision to move on Japhet Tanganga would be quite significant, given that the 23-year-old is homegrown.
Over the past couple of weeks, Tanganga has been heavily linked with a move to AC Milan, with Football Insider reporting on Saturday that the Spurs academy graduate is now ‘close’ to sealing a move to the San Siro.
The centre-back did travel with the Spurs squad to Israel for the club’s pre-season friendly against Roma but he played no part in the game as he was unwell (Tom Barclay).
It then emerged on Sunday (Il Matino via Roma Press) that Roma could challenge Milan for Tanganga’s signature, with Jose Mourinho said to be eyeing a reunion with the defender.
Barclay has now admitted that he is puzzled by Spurs’ willingness to move on Tanganga instead of keeping him at the club as a squad player for the upcoming campaign.
The journalist told GiveMeSport: “The thing with Tanganga is he’s a homegrown player, so losing him would be quite significant because you’ve obviously got to fill those quotas both for the Premier League and the Champions League.
“If he’s not going to get some regular game-time, then maybe going out on loan or permanently with a buyback clause wouldn’t be a bad idea.
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“But Spurs have got so many games coming up that you do feel like, even if he’s not first choice, he will get games this season. I’m not really sure on that one and I don’t know if that’s cut and dried.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The fact that Tottenham are willing to move on Tanganga is a clear indication that the club are planning on signing another centre-back this summer.
I suspect Nikola Milenkovic is the player that Paratici and Conte are eyeing as the Serbian is well suited to a back three and is likely to be relatively cheap due to his contract situation.
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