Tottenham want Serie A spark to replace James Maddison - but they face £60.5m asking price

Tottenham are now being linked with a Serie A attacking midfielder as they look to fill the void left by James Maddison’s injury. Maddison has been ruled out for much of the season with an ACL rupture, and it’s no secret that Spurs have had trouble finding a replacement.

Eberechi Eze looked set to join from Crystal Palace, but he decided to join Arsenal due to an emotional connection he has with them from his younger days, and Tottenham were left scratching their heads.

Though, any heartbreak they may have felt about the transfer did not linger into Saturday’s clash with Manchester City. Spurs won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium and made a big statement as they look to hit the ground running under Thomas Frank.

But with the transfer window set to shut in the coming week, Tottenham still need to address some key areas, including that attacking midfield role. According to reports in Italy, Como starlet Nico Paz is said to be an option being considered.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Tottenham actually offered around £34.5million for the creative spark, but Como swiftly rejected the offer, valuing their 20-year-old number 10 at £60.5million.

Paz came through the Real Madrid academy, but he left the club in 2024 after making just four league appearances. The three-time Argentina senior international has made 35 league appearances for Como so far, scoring six times.

Spurs will have to up their bid significantly to get the deal done, and £60million or so would be a big amount to risk on a player who is yet to prove himself at senior level for more than one season.

Frank on City win

Speaking after Tottenham’s win over City, Frank said when asked about the players ignoring the noise over potential transfers: “Yeah, I think it's extremely important that, a couple of things that we understand we have a good group of players, a talented group players, a group of good quality players that I'm very pleased with. So, that's why we brought in two good players to help. Can we improve it? Perfect. If we can't, you know, then we have very good players and we just showed that today, so yeah, very happy with that."

On the performance as a whole, he said: “Extremely proud of the players' performance. I think it was an exceptionally good performance. I think the first 35 minutes, we know a couple of things, we know it's always difficult to play against City. Here at the Etihad it's even more difficult. The first 35 minutes I thought was fairly even, but with City on top, I think they were more on top than us.

“There was a big mentality shift in terms of staying in the game and keeping doing what we wanted to do, scoring a great goal. Maybe that changed a little bit of momentum, but we definitely stayed on top and went 2-0 up. Second half, I think we were very good. The big spell where we could think that they would put pressure on us, I think we were very aggressive in the high pressure, that we were very front-footed, with the mindset to constantly go for the 3-0 goal. And then, then I must say, that the clean sheet makes me very happy.”

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