According to journalist Nicolo Schira on Twitter, Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement to sell defender Vlad Chiriches to AS Roma. Schira, who writes for Calciomercato and Panorama, is an unknown quantity to me. His twitter feed doesn't have any obvious red flags of false confirmations or wind-up artistry, and generally passes the smell test. I think this is probably a real report, but I am open to being corrected by anyone with a better handle on the Italian football journalism ecosystem.
All confirmed: #Roma has agreement with Tottenham for Vlad #Chiriches. #Spurs are closing Federico #Fazio from #Siviglia. #THFC
— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) August 22, 2014
Chiriches has not featured for Spurs at all under new manager Mauricio Pochettino. It is not clear whether Poche does not rate Chiriches, whether the expected fee for Chiriches is too high to pass up, or why Spurs would sell the entertainingly insane Romanian defender.
If a deal for Federico Fazio is happening, Tottenham have one too many central defenders, so one of Chiriches, Younes Kaboul or Michael Dawson would need to be sold. I think Chiriches is the best of those three, and I worry about Kaboul and Dawson even if they are only combining for the fourth spot in a center back rotation. Perhaps there are good reasons that we don't know which justify cutting bait on Chiriches, but "maybe they have reasons" is a poor justification."
Wait and see on the price and future moves, but this seems both plausible and sub-optimal to me. If you're gone, Vlad, we'll always have the time you dribbled two guys in your defensive half and attempted a 40-yard throughball. Shine on you crazy diamond.