Spurs must lose 'swashbuckling' star to complete £22m Radu Dragusin transfer

Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of completing a £21.5 million deal for Genoa defender Radu Dragusin, beating the likes of Newcastle United and Bayern Munich, but the transfer is set to come at the cost of losing a 'swashbuckling' Spurs star.

The North London club has moved quickly in an often difficult January transfer window, already bringing RB Leipzig forward and former Chelsea man Timo Werner in on a loan deal. Dragusin, a towering 6 ft 2 in centre-back, would be the second incoming this month.

The player has started all 22 of Genoa's league matches in the Serie A this term and is fast becoming one of the continent's most exciting defensive prospects. Dragusin came through the prestigious ranks at Juventus as a youngster before heading to Genoa on a loan deal, which eventually became permanent just a year ago.

Ange Postecoglou has been in the market for a defender as another option to Cristian Romero and Mickey van de Ven, who have both had their injury worries this term. The Australian boss has had to play full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal as centre-backs in recent weeks to cover injuries over the busy festive period.

Eric Dier, who has been at the club since 2014, is of course another option but has fallen from favour under Postecoglou. The manager was not afraid to say the club could afford to lose the 29-year-old in a recent statement.

It is widely reported that the imminent deal for Dragusin will be completed as a swap deal with Spurs youngster Djed Spence heading to Italy to replace Genoa's defender on a loan deal until the end of the season. The 23-year-old has made just six first-team appearances at Spurs since signing from Nottingham Forest in 2022 and recently saw his season-long loan deal at Leeds United cut short.

Spence made his debut for Tottenham in August 2022 against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and was eventually loaned to Rennes last January after struggling for game time. The full-back had previously helped Nottingham Forest into the Premier League during an impressive loan spell over the 2021/22 campaign. He almost joined Forest on a permanent deal from Middlesbrough that summer but instead elected for Spurs.

Having watched Spence while at Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup meeting with Arsenal, Gunners legend and Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright said: "I saw him after the game and said 'Listen, my friend. You're on loan from Middlesbrough and I don't know what's happened there, because if you can't get into the Middlesbrough side, I don't know what's wrong, so I need to know the full story'. But let me say, that was one of the best right-back performances I have seen for a very long time. A very long time.

"If we are talking about right-backs performing at an unbelievable level, we're talking Reece James and Trent (Alexander-Arnold). But I have not seen a combative, technical, swashbuckling performance like that for a very long time.

"I said to him afterwards, 'Whatever's happening, whatever you're doing, the level you've just shown us here is the level you have to be consistently hitting, Djed'. I said that to him at the end of that game and all his family were there, and they were saying 'yes! Listen, man! Listen!'

"I said to him, in all seriousness, 'That level we saw there? You should be in the Premier League'. Simple as that."