It’s kind of seemed for a while now that the only team in European football that has had an interest in a certain tier of striker was Tottenham Hotspur. Regarding all the various rumors that have popped up over the past few days, in most of them Tottenham have been the only real suitor, with the player’s home club trying to beat back a deal.
Oh sure, Arsenal have been mentioned among the “other clubs with an interest,” but for the most part in the section of the striker market that Spurs are looking at, they’ve really been the only one there. That’s probably because Spurs are one of the few European clubs that actually has money in a post-COVID financial environment.
Until now. Gianluca DiMarzio is reporting that Atletico Madrid has expressed “strong interest” in Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic, with the club ready to bid €60m, plus young Argentine CB Nehuen Perez going the other way.
On one level — this is fine. Spurs seem to be pretty focused on landing Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez at the moment as their top option, and that would be a pretty good option! The problem may come if Inter hold firm to their plan to keep Lautaro — Vlahovic has been touted for weeks now as a player who is pretty high up Fabio Paratici’s list as a replacement for complement to Harry Kane.
I think it’s pretty likely that Vlahovic is heading SOMEWHERE this summer, as he’s commanding way too much interest (and money) to stay at Fiorentina. This also may be agent games to get Spurs to commit, or commit more money, by including another club into the bargaining. But Spurs are going to have to decide pretty soon who they want to go full tilt after, and if Vlahovic is off the board that might become harder.
You didn’t think this would be EASY, did you?