Tottenham 'willing' to pay asking price of Premier League defender as president 'negotiates' with Spurs star

Tottenham returned to action on Saturday when they took on League One side Reading in a pre-season friendly. Spurs won 2-0 thanks to goals from Will Lankshear and Luka Vuskovic, and while there were changes aplenty, plenty of first-team stars played in the game.

Thomas Frank will just be hoping to see his men start to take to his ideas at this stage while getting those all-important minutes in the legs. Here we round up all the latest news and transfer rumours surrounding Spurs.

Defender interest

Tottenham are said to be interested in AFC Bournemouth defender Illya Zabarnyi, who is said to carry an asking price as high as £60.6million this summer. The Cherries have already sold Dean Huijsen, so they are likely to make things difficult when it comes to potentially selling Zabarnyi.

According to CaughtOffside, Spurs see the Ukrainian as a possible replacement for Cristian Romero, although Frank has said the expects the Argentine to stay this summer. He said: “But it’s like a theory. Right now he’s here, that’s what I’m focusing on. As long as players are here, I’m training them, I’m playing with them. He’s definitely here and very committed. I know he’s looking forward to the season.”

Chelsea are also credited with an interest in Zabarnyi, but the report says Tottenham are ‘willing’ to pay the full asking price to win the race.

Richarlison interest

Tottenham have been tipped to sell Richarlison this summer, with the Brazilian having struggled for fitness last season, while he missed the first pre-season game with a fresh issue. According to The Boy Hotspur, Richarlison is now subject to interest from home country club Palmeiras.

It’s claimed the Palmeiras president Leila Pereira, is "personally conducting the negotiations”. It’s unclear how much Tottenham will demand to sell Richarlison, but it’s likely to be North of £50million.

Injury latest and Reading fallout

Tottenham were without Manor Solomon, Richarlison and Kota Takai for their win over Reading, and Frank confirmed after the game that all three have been struggling with injury issues.

He said: “Manor has a minor calf injury, unfortunately, nothing big. Kota has a minor issue, and we expect him to train next week. Richy has trained well, we’re just building him, that’s the big thing, He trained earlier today, and we expect a full training week next week and, right now, we expect him to play next week.”

On scoring in the game, Vuskovic said: "I'm very happy for those stats and I'm happy that we won the game with a clean sheet. We just need to continue to build. It was a good game; a lot of duels, transitions and I think we managed it well.

"Kudus gave me a top assist and I just put it in the net! To have Vicario behind me, Van de Ven beside me was a really amazing experience. Now everything is perfect. The club is behind me, the players, the staff, the coach. Everyone is helping me a lot and I'm really happy."

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