€80m ‘complete’ winger tells Tottenham he ‘wants to go to Chelsea’ after ‘contact’

Tottenham Hotspur have suffered a major blow in their quest to sign one of Europe’s best goalscoring wingers, with Fabrizio Romano revealing that he is set on a move to Chelsea and wants to play under Enzo Maresca, but there are six other options for manager Thomas Frank and chairman Daniel Levy to explore.

With Son Heung-min leaving for Los Angeles FC and James Maddison suffering a long-term knee injury in pre-season that will see him miss most of the 2025/26 campaign, Tottenham are on the hunt for attacking players before the summer transfer window slams shut on September 1.

Tottenham were in advanced talks with Crystal Palace for Eberechi Eze, but Arsenal pressed ahead with their interest in the England international attacking midfielder and now have a deal in place.

This has forced Tottenham to go back into the market, with trusted journalist Romano revealing that last season’s Europa League winners would love to sign Xavi Simons.

Simons is one of the best young players in Europe, with the RB Leipzig and Netherlands international star adept at playing as a winger and in attacking midfield.

The 22-year-old scored 11 goals and gave eight assists in 33 matches in all competitions last season, while in the 2023/24 campaign, the young Dutchman found the back of the net 10 times and provided 15 assists.

Although Tottenham have shown interest in Simons, Romano has revealed that the 22-year-old has made it clear to the north London club that he wants to join Chelsea instead.

Chelsea and RB Leipzig are in talks over Simons, who, according to his former team-mate Dani Olmo on the German club’s official website in February 2024, is “a really complete player” and “has an amazing dribbling technique”.

RB Leipzig want €80million (£69m, $93.6m) for Simons, while Chelsea need to move on Christopher Nkunku to fund a deal for the former Paris Saint-Germain attacker.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “A player they would love to have, and they made some contact a few days ago already, was Xavi Simons.

“But Simons has his heart set on a move to Chelsea Football Club.

“So, now for Tottenham, it’s not going to be easy for sure after the crazy Morgan Gibbs-White story and after the Eze story. to try and understand what they can do next.

“Rogers very difficult, Simons wants to go to Chelsea, Tyler Dibling and Everton already in negotiations, obviously a different kind of player.”

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Who are the other attacking options for Tottenham?

As Romano has noted, Southampton winger Tyler Dibling is also on Tottenham’s radar.

However, TEAMtalk understands that Dibling is keen on a move to Everton, who have had three bids for the 19-year-old already turned down.

Savinho, too, is on Tottenham’s radar, with a new Brazilian report claiming that Spurs have made a new bid for the Manchester City winger after having their initial offer turned down.

According to The Independent, Morgan Rogers is also a player that Tottenham like, a claim that Romano has backed.

Tottenham reportedly believe that Villa would be willing to sell Rogers because of their PSR issues, but the Villans will demand at least £80million (€92.5m, $107.6m) for the 23-year-old attacker.

Nico Paz, too, is an option for Tottenham, who have had a bid for Como already turned down earlier this summer.

Tottenham tried to sign Conor Gallagher from Chelsea last summer before he moved to Atletico Madrid and still hold an interest in him.

However, Spurs believe that the England international midfielder’s wages at Atletico Madrid are too high for them to do a deal.

The Independent has noted that Tottenham have taken a shine to Maghnes Akliouche of AS Monaco, adding that ‘an approach has been made’ for Dibling and have ‘discussed’ Simons.

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