Juventus withdraw interest in Tottenham target Keita Balde

Tottenham Hotspur have had a running interest in 22-year old Lazio winger Keita Balde for a while now, but it looked like he had his heart set on Juventus. However, it appears as though the Old Lady has dropped their interest in Balde, which potentially opens things up for Spurs, should they want to submit a transfer bid.

Football Italia has the story, as well as quotes from Juventus sporting director Beppe Marotta (as given to Italian news agency Ansa) saying that the Bianconeri are dropping their interest because Lazio want too much money for the Senegalese winger. Juventus reportedly made an offer of around €15m, but Lazio want twice that.

“Keita is an opportunity that, for contractual conditions and age, all clubs must at least try to take, with all due respect for President Claudio Lotito and Lazio. Emre Can and Adrien Rabiot are also players whose contracts expire in 2018, like Keita, but they play regularly for their teams without any drama.

“We made an offer to Lotito that we consider to be fair, then he is able to decide his strategies in his own club and so we have withdrawn.”

— Beppe Marotta, to Ansa.it

Does this create an opening for Tottenham Hotspur to make a bid? Who knows! We know that Spurs were at least looking at him at one point in time, and having Juventus out of the way would hypothetically make things a lot easier. As we wrote earlier in the summer, Balde would be an excellent addition to Spurs’ attacking midfield options. Spurs could use another option there for sure. Balde is also linked with both Milan clubs.

Last season Balde had 16 goals and 6 assists in all competitions for Lazio. Primarily a left winger for Lazio, he can play anywhere across the forward attacking band. If I’m Daniel Levy, I’m on the phone right now.