Chelsea, Tottenham given hope of hijacking winger deal as summer wait could prove costly
Antonio Nusa playing for Club Brugge
Brentford will reportedly wait until the summer to sign Antonio Nusa, in a decision which could allow Chelsea and Tottenham to swoop instead.
Nusa has had a fantastic start to senior football. He was the second-youngest player to ever score a Champions League goal when he netted for Club Brugge in a 4-0 win over Porto in 2022 at 17 years of age.
He’s now 18, soon to turn 19, and has scored three times at club level this season along with two assists.
Nusa has also made four appearances for Norway’s senior team, and has already scored his first goal in international football.
His stellar start in senior football alerted some big sides such as Chelsea, Tottenham and Brentford. It was the latter pair that looked to have the most chance of snaring him, and given Spurs are fourth in the Premier League, they’d have expected to have a great chance at the move.
However, Nusa blew them off, with sources telling TEAMtalk he suspected he’d play much more often with the Bees.
As such, when they approached Brugge with a £25million deal and they accepted, he was happy to do the same.
It was subsequently reported that there were ‘complications’ with the move to Brentford that had thrown it up in the air, though the reasons for that were not reported.
Brentford to delay Nusa deal
It has now been explained by Sky Sports that ‘issues were flagged’ in his medical.
As such, it’s said the Bees are in ‘no rush’ to get the move through in January.
Instead, they and Brugge will ‘take time to assess his fitness’ and ‘continue discussions’ about a deal for Nusa in the summer.
Ensuring that the youngster is fit after picking up a couple of injuries this season is a prudent thought process by the English club.
However, it could open up problems for them, as the agreement that was in place for his transfer will disappear until they come to another one for the summer.
Summer wait could open door to hijack
As such, either of the sides who were previously interested – Chelsea and Tottenham – could hijack the move.
Indeed, they’ll now have ample time to come to their own agreements if they should want to.
There could still be the problem on playing time for Nusa, but if he keeps performing throughout the season, he could show that he’s ready for a bigger role than he would have had at either of those sides, and they could offer it to him
Indeed, while it’s not certain Brentford will lose out, there’s a much bigger chance now than there was when they had the January deal in place for Nusa.