According to a report in Danish outlet TV2 (as relayed by Sport Witness), Tottenham reached out to Norway manager Stale Solbakken in an effort to persuade Antonio Nusa to join the club in January.
With a week left in the transfer window, it looked like Nusa was on his way to Spurs, with various outlets suggesting last week that the Lilywhites had struck an agreement with Club Brugge.
This includes The Athletic, who reported a week ago that Ange Postecoglou’s men would pay €30m (£25.7m) to the Belgian club and that the 18-year-old would be loaned back to them until the end of the season.
Much to the disappointment of Spurs fans, Brentford then seemed to hijack the deal, with various reports suggesting that Nusa had chosen to join the Bees after the club guaranteed him regular game time (Football.London).
However, there was one more final twist in the last few days of the transfer window as the teenager failed a medical at the Gtech Community Stadium due to knee and back problems, with the move thus collapsing (Ben Jacobs).
Tottenham’s tactics revealed in Antonio Nusa deal
It remains to be seen if Tottenham reactivate their interest in Nusa next summer but TV2 have now shed light on the strategy Spurs employed in January to convince the youngster to join the club.
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They say that Tottenham’s technical director Johan Lange reached out to the player’s international boss Stale Solbakken, hoping that the latter would be able to persuade him to join the North London side.
It is explained that Lange has a very good relationship with Solbakken, with the pair having ‘worked for many years’ together at FC Copenhagen where the Tottenham man previously served as director.
Spurs Web Opinion
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Brentford had not hijacked the Nusa deal. One would assume that Spurs would have also spotted the same issue during the medical and it might have been enough for them to call off the transfer.
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