Depending on what source you were reading, transfer deal between Tottenham Hotspur and Genoa for Radu Dragusin was either thrown into complete chaos last evening, or was never in doubt. What seems clear is that Bayern Munich attempted to shoehorn themselves into negotiations for the Romanian central defender, with various Italian media sources saying that they were either seriously interested or had already hijacked the deal.
Thankfully, those breathless reports appear to have been overblown. I woke up this morning to news that Spurs have formally submitted a transfer proposal in the amount of €25m + €5m in incentives for Dragusin, with the player having reached personal terms with Tottenham days ago.
But — there’s a plot twist! Sometime in the night, exiled fullback Djed Spence got included in the deal, with a proposal to send him to Genoa on loan for the rest of the season, ostensibly to get him out of Tottenham’s hair.
⚪️ Tottenham and Genoa are locked in talks to get Radu Dragusin deal done after official bid sent earlier today.
↪️ €25m, €5m add-ons, Spence on loan.
Talks on payment terms and final details now.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 9, 2024
As an aside, this is why it’s rarely helpful to obsess over every transfer detail as it emerges on social media. Reports were flying about the deal being close to collapse, including from a Romanian journalist with ties to Dragusin’s camp, Florian Plettenberg in Germany, as well as Italian media outlets who tend to be a little pro-Genoa. All of those rumors likely had a grain of truth to them but were probably all influenced by agents, intermediaries, and others with an angle or some connection to this deal.
To be fair, the Bayern interest appeared to be accurate, insomuch as they were looking at a potential gazumping of Dragusin. Bayern, however, has yet to submit a formal proposal for Dragusin, and the expectation now is, at least according to Fabrizio Romano, that the deal to send him to Tottenham will go through.
The inclusion of Spence is certainly interesting — that emerged this morning, with reports that Djed was initially reluctant but is now warming to the idea. At any rate, it doesn’t appear that throwing him into the transfer will kill it djed. I’m more optimistic about transfer happening now than I was about 12 hours ago, and I’ve never thought that it wouldn’t go eventually go through.