Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed that the reigning Serie A champions were prepared to offer more money than Tottenham for Radu Dragusin last month but the centre-back had his heart set on a switch to the Premier League.
While a lot has been made over the last week and a half of Tottenham managing to beat Barcelona to the signature of Lucas Bergvall, the fact that the Lilywhites beat Bayern Munich to Dragusin is arguably an even more impressive feat.
According to reports, Thomas Tuchel personally phoned the Romanian on multiple occasions to convince him to move to Bavaria but the player still chose the North London club (Fanatik).
On signing for Spurs, the 22-year-old himself confirmed that the Bundesliga giants indeed wanted him but explained that he felt that a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would be the right step for him to make at this stage of his career (The Athletic).
Napoli also failed to beat Spurs to Radu Dragusin
It has now emerged that Tottenham not only beat Bayern to Dragusin’s signature but also saw off competition from Napoli.
That has been revealed by De Laurentiis himself, with the Serie A club’s owner stating that he was ready to pay more than Spurs but was informed by Genoa that the player wanted to join Ange Postecoglou’s side.
The Napoli supremo said about the club’s pursuit of Dragusin (via Area Napoli): “I had offered him more than anyone: no one had given him the figures that we would have guaranteed him.
“Genoa replied to me: ‘Bayern Munich are also there, but the boy really wants England’. It wasn’t a question of money, because it doesn’t always go like this when you try to sign a footballer.
“If they tell you that the talent you want to hire is seen elsewhere, aspires to certain leagues, you can’t help but stop. We did our bit, but his choice was different.”
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While Dragusin’s keenness to play in the Premier League was evidently crucial in his decision to reject Bayern and Napoli, he also clearly felt that working under Postecoglou at Spurs would be the right environment for him to fulfil his potential.
There is no doubt that the perception of the project at Tottenham has changed massively over the last six months, with the club arguably being one the most attractive destinations for talented young players like Dragusin and Van de Ven who are on the cusp of evolving into top-class players.