Tottenham ready €50m offer for Mourinho favourite amid bust-up talk
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho is ready to make an official €50m offer for Nicolo Zaniolo, claims a prominent Italian journalist.
Spurs were again linked with a move for the 21-year-old this week after holding talks about a swap involving Zaniolo and defender Toby Alderweireld last summer.
They ended up moving for other targets instead last year, including midfield duo Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso.
Now though Tottenham are prepared to submit an offer for the midfielder, who Mourinho wants to bolster his squad.
Italian journalist Nicolo Schira claims that Spurs are looking to launch the first bid in the region of £45.1m for the five-cap Italy star.
“Jose Mourinho wants Nicolo Zaniolo,” Schira tweeted.
“Tottenham are ready to offer €50M (£45.1m) AS Roma ask €60-70M (£54.1-£63.1m) to sell the Italian midfielder,” Schira tweeted.
“Juventus are really interested in him and Inter Milan are looking (they have 15 per cent on a future fees).”
Josè #Mourinho wants Nicolò #Zaniolo. #Tottenham are ready to offer €50M #ASRoma (ask €60-70M to sell him) for the italian midfielder. #Juventus are really interested in him and #Inter are looking (they have 15% on a future fees) the event. #transfers #THFC
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) July 21, 2020
Manchester United, Juventus and Inter Milan are all believed to have registered their interest. But Mourinho is thought to be desperate to add Zaniolo, who only joined Roma in 2018 from Inter.
Inter though are unlikely to pursue the player with executive Giuseppe Marotta saying to Sky Sport Italia: “He’s one of most interesting players in the league, but we haven’t approached Roma officials and probably won’t.”
Bust-up talk
Zaniolo meanwhile was initially left out of the travelling party to face SPAL on Wednesday, with Paulo Fonseca claiming the midfielder was nursing a calf injury.
There have been reports that his exclusion was due a possible bust-up with Fonseca, who slammed the player’s attitude after the win over Hellas Verona last week.
“I did not like Nicolo Zaniolo’s attitude. He did not help the team,” said the Roma boss.
However, Cengiz Under has picked up a thigh strain and Zaniolo “gave more encouraging answers” so he is back in the travelling party.
“Earlier I said Zaniolo would not be available,” Fonseca said, as cited by FootballItalia.
“However, Cengiz picked up a knock today – so I asked Nicolò if he felt ready. He underwent tests that gave us more encouraging answers than yesterday, so I’ve decided to call him up.”