The January transfer window opens on Monday morning, and Tottenham Hotspur are keen to be ready. Multiple outlets, including Gianluca DiMarzio, are reporting Tottenham are in club-to-club talks with Genoa for the potential transfer of Romanian central defender Radu Dragusin at the start of January, with Fabrizio Romano saying Spurs are ready to pull the trigger and move on from a January deal for Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
⚪️ EXCL: Tottenham are prepared to send first verbal bid for Radu Dragusin after talks opened with Genoa, as revealed last night.
Dragusin already said yes.
⚠️ Todibo deal could collapse soon — as timing with OFC Nice will be slow and Tottenham want new CB to join next week. pic.twitter.com/msuh9dPDkc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 30, 2023
It sounds like Spurs are feeling so urgent to get a new defender in and acclimated that they’re willing to leave talks for their top choice, Todibo. In truth, a January deal for Todibo was always going to be difficult considering he’s wanted by a number of top clubs and is more likely to make a move this coming summer. Nice certainly do not have any real motivation to move quickly on a mid-season deal considering they’re pushing PSG for the Ligue 1 title at the midway point of the season.
So enter Dragusin, potentially the first Romanian player at Spurs since Vlad “The Lad” Chiriches. His surname sounds like “Dragon,” he has a goatee and a top-knot, and he looks like a cross between Khal Drogo and Zod from the movie Superman 2. He also scored a banger off a corner kick just last night in Genoa’s 1-1 draw against Inter Milan. Interestingly, Dragusin was at Juventus at the same time as both Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski, so there are already “Paratici’s getting the band back together” memes going around social media.
DiMarzio says Dragusin would likely command a €30m (£26m) fee and that the player has already agreed personal terms with Spurs, but that there are also a number of top Italian teams interested in him including Atalanta, Inter, and Napoli. Spurs are said to be “leading the race” at this point though. Enter the Dragon?