Transfer Talk: Spurs planning move for Napoli’s Wizard of Os

Tottenham are planning a summer move for Napoli striker Victor Osimhen after seeing an approach knocked back in January.

The 23-year-old was reportedly a mid-season target for Spurs as they looked to bolster Antonio Conte’s options in attack.

The Nigerian has impressed this term, scoring nine goals in 16 games during a campaign disrupted by a near two-month injury absence.

Football Insider claim that Spurs sporting director Fabio Paratici is planning on returning for Osimhen at the end of the season.

But it will not be a cheap deal to secure the striker, who joined Napoli for £67.5million in July 2020.

The report claims Osimhen is valued slightly higher than that original fee at £70m.

A big-name striker is thought to be one of Spurs’ top priorities in the summer regardless of the future of star man Harry Kane.

Conte has shown a preference for playing two up front in a 5-3-2 formation and seeing Osimhen line up alongside Kane for the North Londoners is a tantalising prospect.

Spurs did manage to secure an addition to their frontline in January, with Dejan Kulusevski arriving from Juventus along with midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.

And Paratici has hinted there will be more incomings at the end of the season as club chiefs look to further shape the squad to fit Conte’s mould.

He revealed: “To have a good group, we need a good dressing room who follows the coach and the ambition of the club and achieves the target, we need a person before a player. That’s the most important thing for me.

“We can check where the team needs, what the coach thinks about this and when we arrive in May after the season we can check better and we can know what we have to do in the summer.” 

In other news

Spurs’ North London rivals Arsenal are preparing a big summer outlay of their own as they plot moves for Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves, Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Real Sociedad marksman Alexander Isak.

The Sun say owner Stan Kroenke is keen to back manager Mikel Arteta by providing a £180m war chest to help land the trio.

The Athletic claim Newcastle will revive their interest in Lille defender Sven Botman during the summer after failing to secure the Dutchman in January.

Though they will face competition from Tottenham, who are also monitoring Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni and RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol as claimed by the Telegraph.

Spurs are also chasing Roma midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo during what is set to be a busy summer.

Calciomercato say Juventus are also interested in the highly-rated 22-year-old.