Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League • England

Tottenham face transfer disaster as Bournemouth march in with record-breaking bid for top Conte target

Antonio Conte Tottenham v Fulham

Tottenham could miss out on a January transfer target to Bournemouth after the Cherries began discussions over a club-record move for a winger.

Tottenham finally got their January business underway on Wednesday by announcing Arnaut Danjuma’s arrival from Villarreal. The centre-forward has moved to north London on loan until the end of the season.

Initially, it was thought the move was a straight loan. But Villarreal have since revealed that Tottenham have the opportunity to sign Danjuma permanently in the summer, should he impress.

Antonio Conte wants more new players to join the club before the transfer window closes. As such, Spurs officials have been in talks with their Sporting Lisbon counterparts to try and get Pedro Porro’s move over the line.

So far, Spurs have been unwilling to match Porro’s £40m release clause outright. Instead, they are hoping to meet this sum through add-ons. Sporting have rejected all of Spurs’ offers, although it is expected the two clubs will come to an agreement soon.

Spurs are also in negotiations with Roma over the potential capture of Italy winger Nicolo Zaniolo. Roma value him at between £31-35m.

Spurs want to sign Zaniolo on loan with an option to buy at the end of the season. However, they have only put forward between £17.5-22m as a buy option, which is why Roma have ‘declined’ their advances.

Conte is now at serious risk of losing out on the 23-year-old attacker. AC Milan are attempting to hijack the transfer.

Fabrizio Romano details Bournemouth interest in Spurs target

Spurs now face competition from a Premier League rival in the form of Bournemouth, too. According to the latest from transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, the Cherries are discussing Zaniolo with Roma.

They are ready to launch an initial £26.4m proposal for him. Zaniolo moving to the Vitality Stadium for this amount would make him Bournemouth’s record signing. That is currently the £25m deal which took Jefferson Lerma to the south coast in August 2018.

The £26.4m Zaniolo bid does not include bonuses either, so that fee could rise further depending on his appearances and goal contributions.

To sweeten the deal for Roma, Bournemouth have included a sell-on clause. Romano does not reveal how much it is worth, but this could help to get Zaniolo’s switch over the line.

Roma will probably be inclined to accept Bournemouth’s bid at the moment. They are offering the most favourable terms, which is surprising when compared with the size of the clubs they are battling.

But according to Romano, Zaniolo’s stance will be crucial in determining where he ends up. And this is where Gary O’Neil’s team could fall short.

Bournemouth cannot offer any European competition and are currently in a relegation battle. Zaniolo would probably not want to take such a backwards step in his career.

In contrast, both Milan and Spurs are battling for Champions League qualification for next season. Plus, the two sides remain in the current edition of the competition and will come up against each other in the round of 16.

As such, Bournemouth would have to hand Zaniolo a lucrative contract to get him to join them over Milan or Spurs.

Meanwhile, Romano has discussed whether Spurs or Chelsea could hijack Leeds’ swoop for a Juventus man.