Agent Ivan: Perisic working to convince Josko Gvardiol to join Spurs

Actual Tottenham Hotspur news has been in short supply as football’s attention is squarely on the World Cup this month, but there are a few rumorish things, especially out of the Italian transfer rumor mill. This one, from Tuttomercatoweb, is the best kind of rumor: the kind I want to believe.

According to the report, Ivan Perisic is doing some work for Tottenham and Antonio Conte while on international duty, working to convince his teammate Josko Gvardiol that he really should consider joining Spurs this summer.

Gvardiol was notably on the shortlist of Tottenham Hotspur central defender targets this past summer, along with Alessandro Bastoni. Tottenham obviously didn’t sign either of them this past summer, but certainly not for lack of trying — they ended up with Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet on loan and the implication was that they’d try for one or both of the aforementioned players again in the summer of 2022.

Gvardiol is a hell of a defender and is only 20 years old, meaning if he joins he’d potentially be anchoring Spurs’ back line for a decade. He’d certainly be an upgrade on both Lenglet and Ben Davies, and is comfortable playing in the LCB role in a back three as that’s where he currently plays for RB Leipzig.

Can Spurs actually land him? Who knows. But having a player like Perisic in his ear certainly can’t hurt. And if Ivan can keep whispering those sweet nothings into Gvardiol’s ear enough so that he wants to come, then Perisic would be worth every bit of his (reportedly large) wages.