A Croatian midfielder who impressed against England at the World Cup on Wednesday is on Tottenham’s summer shopping list.
England made a winning start to their World Cup campaign, brushing aside Croatia 4-2, with Spurs legend Harry Kane netting a brace for his nation to move level with Gary Lineker as England’s joint top scorer at World Cups.
Spurs youngster Luka Vuskovic also set a record by becoming the youngest Croatian to play at the World Cup, with the 19-year-old showing plenty of promise in the middle of a back three.
It turns out that Croatia’s best player on the day could potentially end up at Tottenham ahead of the start of next season.
Tottenham allegedly made an offer for Martin Baturina
Martin Baturina arguably scored the goal of the game, with the attacking midfielder unleashing an outstanding strike into the top corner from outside the box to bring Croatia level in the first half after Kane put the Three Lions ahead from the penalty spot.
The Como star looked the most threatening Croatian player before he was taken off on 76 minutes, with FotMob giving him a performance rating of 7.9, which is higher than any of his teammates.
Intrestingly, it turns out that Tottenham had their eye on the 23-year-old even before he impressed on the biggest stage on Wednesday.
It was reported at the start of this month by journalist Pedro Almeida that Spurs had launched a €50m (£43m) offer for the attacking midfielder.
Spurs will have to break the bank for Martin Baturina
Just days after Almeida’s claim, Gianluca Di Marzio reported that Como had rejected two offers of around €50m-€55m (£43m-£47m) for Baturina.
While the Italian journalist did not say who made those bids, one of them may well have come from Tottenham, given Almeida’s previous claim about the Lilywhites’ offer.
Di Marzio added that Como have slapped an €80m (£69m) price tag on the attacking midfielder, and and would expec the price to go up even further if the 23-year-old continues to impress at the World Cup.