Roma are the latest Serie A club to show interest in Radu Dragusin and the fit-again Romania centre-half is planning talks with Tottenham to clarify his future.
The 23-year-old made his Spurs return as a late substitute at Crystal Palace on Sunday, after building up fitness with the Under-21s before his return from 11 months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury.
In his absence, Dragusin has slipped behind Kevin Danso as well as first-choice central defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven in Thomas Frank’s plans.
Croatian teenager Luka Vuskovic, meanwhile, continues to impress on loan at Hamburg in the German Bundesliga.
Dragusin is concerned that if he stays on the sidelines for the rest of the season, he will start next season in competition with these four players, having played very little football in 20 months.
He wants to play regularly but his agent Florin Manea has told Romanian media outlets Spurs have made it clear they do not want him to go out on loan but that there will be a conversation about the best way forward.
Tottenham will discuss Radu Dragusin’s (left) future with him amid interest from Serie A clubs
He suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January and only returned on Sunday
Dragusin joined Spurs for £27million from Genoa in January 2024 and is still very highly rated in Italy.
Marco Ottolini, the Genoa sporting director who signed Dragusin from Juventus for £7m and sold him to Spurs for a £20m profit, is now moving to the same role at Juventus.
Inter Milan, managed by Romanian Cristian Chivu, have been linked and reports in Italy claim Roma boss Gian Piero Gasperini is considering Dragusin and Axel Disasi of Chelsea among the options for defensive reinforcements.
Spurs might not be keen to loan him out but could be tempted by a permanent deal as they look to reshape and rebalance the squad.
Meanwhile, Spurs have accepted an offer of £35million with Palace for winger Brennan Johnson if he agrees to a move.
They accept they must be better at selling those who might not be part of their plans at a time when their value is strong, and Frank said: ‘I think that’s key. It’s not only doing one thing right, playing a specific way or getting the culture right or whatever, there’s a lot of elements that we need to do well to be able to compete at the highest level.
‘Part of it is being able to sell. You see the other top clubs, they are quite good at selling. That’s something we need to be improving. That’s something I know the guys above me are working very hard on. Everything’s linked.’
