Loyalty or London? Genoa CEO reveals Tottenham star Radu Dragusin wasn’t keen to leave Italy
Tottenham Hotspur winter singing Radu Dragusin wanted to stay in Italy with his former employers before his move to North London, per Genoa CEO Andres Blazquez.
The 22-year-old was enjoying an impressive season at Genoa before the Lilywhites made a move for his services in the January transfer window. Tottenham beat out a hijack attempt from Bayern Munich to land Romanian international Radu Dragusin in a £26.7 million (€31 million) deal from Genoa.
While the financial offer from the German giants was better than Tottenham, the Romanian international rather vetoed a move to North London.
He has not played predominantly since his transfer, as he plays a second fiddle to Romero and Micky van de Ven. Radu has specifically been brought in by Tottenham for these circumstances to guarantee that Levy is not left out in the back if someone pulls up again this season.
Dragusin appears to be good on the ball and is not afraid to carry the ball out of press, which could be useful in the future in Spurs current style of play. He is not yet a finished product or an important member of Tottenham’s defense, but he might be both under Ange.
Genoa CEO Blazquez revealed Radu didn’t want to leave in January
Genoa CEO Blazquez has spoken about the transfer in an interview with CaughtOffside, where he insists that he wanted to continue his development with the Italian side and was committed to staying at the club; however, the pressure from Bayern and Tottenham to conclude a transfer led to him leaving.
“It was a bit higher than that, but overall up to €31 million (£26.7 million) with a base of €26 million (£22.4 million),” explained Genoa’s CEO when quizzed about the transfer fee (via. Football.London).
“We knew his potential; he hadn’t had the right experiences, and I think he took the wrong career path. He came here and said he wanted to play and be a starter from day one.
“He had time to develop; he made some mistakes in the beginning, but he’s a very smart player. From the beginning, he was able to correct those mistakes, and we just knew we had a fantastic talent.
“Our idea was not to sell; he didn’t want to leave in January because he was so committed to the team. He wanted to make sure that Genoa basically meets their goal for the year, and he said, ‘OK, let me stay until the end of January’. But it was not possible because there was too much pressure from Bayern Munich, from Tottenham, and from other teams too.”
“We want to be a club that treats its employees and players, who are employees, differently,” Blazquez continued. “Even though the offer from Bayern was significantly higher, we told Dragu that it is your career and, even though we are going to basically be in a worse financial position there, at the end of the day, it is your choice.
“We’re not going to, but we could basically be all silent and say, ‘You don’t go here; you sit down, and we never see you again’. But we’re very clear: we want to cooperate with our players; we want to make sure they have a happy life and a good professional life.”
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“And within reasonable parameters, we told them, ‘you do what you want’. That was it. Of course, we had some pressure from both teams, but I guess Dragu felt that he had committed to signing for Tottenham. Daniel Levy’s a very shrewd and seasoned CEO of the football club, and he was basically able to convince everyone to do a deal.”
Radu is expected to have a big future at Tottenham, and his moving to the N17, irrespective of Bayern interest, let alone their offering more money, has to be the start of a big journey.
