Italian media links Lamela with summer move to Inter Milan

Were you expecting a quiet summer of Tottenham Hotspur transfer rumors? Hold onto your butts. The latest rumor to come out of Italy involves Erik Lamela, which is wholly unsurprising considering his current role with the team. Italian news outlet Calciomercato is suggesting that Inter Milan are tracking the Argentine and could be interested in bringing him in this summer, since he's not living up to his £30m price tag at Spurs. (What's that? You don't read Italian? Fret not -- Football Italia has basically the same story, but in English.)

So, all of this is predicated on a couple of assumptions. Calciomercato is suggesting that Inter really, really want to sign Steven Jovetic and Yaya Toure from Manchester City, and would gladly take them if they can work that out. But it's not certain that Manuel Pellegrini is going to be around at City much longer, and Inter's sort of holding out to see if whoever comes in after him is keen on keeping Jovetic around. If it turns out that Jovetic isn't available or isn't interested in moving for whatever reason, they've got an eye on Lamela as a backup.

Does this all seem rather clandestine and #batcountry? That's because it is. Calciomercato isn't exactly the most reliable of sources within an Italian football media that, let's just say, has a bit of a reputation for bulls**t (much like England, to be fair). And we have absolutely no idea what Mauricio Pochettino's and Daniel Levy's plans for Lamela are: whether he's even available, how much he might go for, etc.

Is a Lamela sale feasible? Certainly. And if he goes, a return to Italy might even be the natural destination for him. But the cart's firmly in front of the horse at this point, and there are a lot of dominoes that need to topple before it becomes a serious story.