Mousa Dembele’s future club could be in Serie A

I think by this point most Tottenham Hotspur fans expect midfielder Mousa Dembele to be sold before the closing of the transfer window this summer. He’s already confirmed both in person and via his agent that he won’t address his future until after the World Cup in Russia, but it sure does seem like he wants to close off his career in a league that isn’t as physically demanding as the Premier League.

Predictably, there are quite a few rumors linking him to clubs various and sundry, and two rumors emerged in the Italian media that connect Moose to both Napoli and Inter Milan.

First, there’s Gazzetto Dello Sport, which says that Inter boss Luciano Spalletti has his eye on Moose to bolster his central midfield, and that Dembele is one of his top targets. But Spalletti thinks that could be difficult to pull off because of the interest for Moose from Napoli.

Calciomercato reports that new Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti was in England recently to meet with Dembele’s agent about a possible move. Frankly, that’s okay to me -- I think Moose would thrive at a club like Napoli, and if he were to head there he would make a very good Napoli side even better.

Napoli is probably losing Jorginho who is linked to Manchester City, but I’d suggest doing a swap deal for Napoli’s OTHER central midfielder Amadou Diawara, who could do very well in Tottenham’s midfield alongside Victor Wanyama or Eric Dier.

On the one hand both of these rumors are somewhat plausible. On the other hand, it’s the Italian football media, which is unreliable on a good day and quite often completely terrible. I’m not sure I would hate either destination for Moose — it’s unlikely he’d have to go up against Spurs except in the Champions League, and he’d improve either side.