Tottenham test waters with cheeky under-value ‘offer’ for £34million centre-back Conte is keen on
Tottenham have reportedly made a verbal offer of around £22million for Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie, despite the club valuing him at £34million.
Tottenham have had a slow January transfer window compared to this time last season. Indeed, that was Antonio Conte’s first window at the club, so he was keen to shape the side to his liking.
Last January saw the north London outfit snare Juventus pair Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. Both of those men have had big impacts on Conte’s side.
So far this winter, though, nobody has stepped foot through the door on a permanent transfer. The only incoming has been Arnaut Danjuma, whose loan signing came after Tottenham poached him from Everton.
The majority of the window at Spurs has been dominated by a potential defensive signing – Pedro Porro.
Whether or not Spurs do manage to get that deal over the line has been the biggest question throughout the window. It now looks likely that they will complete the signing, with their persistence in the cause paying dividends.
And it seems, with their January window finally getting off the ground in the latter stages, they are ready to make up for lost time with another snare.
Conte is clearly not content with the defensive assets at his disposal, as there’s another defender on his mind.
Hincapie ‘offer’ submitted
That man is Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Hincapie. He has been a target of Spurs’ since the summer, and it doesn’t seem that their interest has wavered.
A report from BILD suggests Tottenham have sent a ‘verbal offer’ of €25million (approx £22million) to Leverkusen.
That is quite a way below what Leverkusen would reportedly accept for Hincapie – £34million.
Spurs are no strangers to trying to haggle a selling side down to a lower fee. That is one of the main reasons the Porro deal has not gone through yet.
Whether or not it will work in this case remains to be seen. It will be a bonus for them if it does, but if not, there is not much time left in the window to negotiate and get it over the line.
Centre-back signing ideal for Spurs
Signing a central defender seems a good move from Tottenham, if they can complete the deal. Questions have been raised over the quality of some of the back line this season.
If Hincapie can come in and make the centre-back position his own, that will mean for one less headache for Conte.
The side are trending in the right direction under the manager and if they can continue to fill the gaps with quality options, they will continue to build on their form of late.
As such, they will hope that if Hincapie does join, he hits the ground running.
