Tottenham Hotspur have advantage over Arsenal in Nicolo Zaniolo race, as per Di Marzio
According to famed journalist Gianluca di Marzio (h/t Football.London), Tottenham Hotspur have a clear advantage over Arsenal in the race for AS Roma star Nicolo Zaniolo, as Spurs possess Fabio Paratici.
The Italian sporting director has been a shrewd operator for Spurs ever since he joined us from Juventus. According to Di Marzio, who was speaking to Wettfreunde (h/t Football.London), only Tottenham made a serious offer for Zaniolo this summer.
“Nicolo Zaniolo had only one real request in the summer and that was Tottenham. Tottenham tried to get him but with a swap deal with other players or loan with option and AS Roma didn’t want to sell the player with these conditions.”
Zaniolo could see Roma try and renew his contract, which currently ends in the summer of 2024. However, Paratici says that Spurs hold an advantage over every other team as they are the only ones who can come back to sign the Italy international due to Paratici.
“Arsenal or other clubs? No. Only Tottenham can come back because [of] the sporting director of Tottenham. Fabio Paratici is one of the managers that has wanted Zaniolo for a long time. Even when he was at Juventus.”
This is a major boost for us. Serie A is a market that manager Antonio Conte has shopped from earlier this year. Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski arrived from Juventus in January.
Ivan Perisic signed as a free agent after leaving Inter Milan this summer, while Destiny Udogie will join Spurs at the end of the season from Udinese, where he is currently on loan. Cristian Romero was also brought in from the Italian top division before Conte was here.
Zaniolo, who has played before for Inter Milan but not under Conte, has made just one assist and scored no goals in eight games across competitions. He is, however, a very talented, young player to have in the team.
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Moreover, he can play down either flank in attack, as a number 10, and even as a second-striker. Hopefully, this is a chance we don’t miss especially if he doesn’t put pen to paper on a deal with I Giallorossi.
