
Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League • England
Tottenham in talks over deal for attacking star as Levy looks to secure first summer signing

Daniel Levy watching from the stands, Tottenham, August 2022
Tottenham have reportedly remained interested in Dejan Kulusevski following his loan period, but they want an £8.5million discount on Juventus’ asking price.
Kulusevski hit the ground running during his time at Spurs. Indeed, he both scored and assisted on just his third game – a 3-2 win over eventual title winners Manchester City.
By the end of that half a season from January, the Swede had scored five goals and provided eight assists.
Along with a lot of the Tottenham squad, he failed to follow that up with a great season this time around. While his two goals and seven assists isn’t a terrible return, he’d have hoped to have built upon his fast start.
The star’s contract gave the north London outfit two avenues of making his stay permanent. They had the option to snare him for £26million, and would have had to sign him for just north of £30million, had they qualified for the Champions League.
That they finished eighth meant they obviously didn’t do that. Towards the back end of the season, reports surfaced that they didn’t want to sign him at all.
The reasons cited for that decision were that they didn’t qualify for the Champions League. Not only that, but they didn’t qualify for a European competition at all, so won’t receive any financial bonuses.
However, reports that followed stated that was likely a ploy from the club to drive down Juventus’ asking price for Kulusevski.
Tottenham negotiating for cheeky discount
Whether or not they were attempting to make the Italian outfit sweat so that they dropped the forward’s price tag is unclear. However, it has been suggested they’re looking for a discount.
Indeed, Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport states they are negotiating with Juve over the snare.
While they ‘still want to confirm’ Kulusevski as their own player, it’s said ‘a discount is needed’. It’s reported Juve are asking for in the region of £30million, which is around what their previous agreement was.
However, Tottenham want that to be cut by around £8.5million, and are willing to pay about £21.5million.
It’s stated Juve aren’t going to budge on their asking price at the moment, so Spurs ‘must raise their offer’ if they’re to stand a chance of completing the snare. Whether or not they do so remains to be seen.
Spurs could drive price down
Juventus aren’t in the strongest financial position at the moment. That was highlighted by a 10-point deduction due to ‘false accounting’ in the second half of this season.
With that being said, it’s been suggested they’ll have to ship some players out.
Even though Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is reportedly a big fan of Kulusevski, he’s famed for his hard negotiating style in almost every pursuit.
As such, that Juve aren’t in the best position at the moment means he’s very unlikely to agree to pay the full cost, knowing he’s one of the players they’ll want to get off their books given he’s not been playing for them for over a year.