Thomas Frank has inherited a very talented squad to work with at Tottenham Hotspur. The club have laid the foundations for success for the past few years, and the Danish tactician seems to be the man set to benefit from the same.
One advantage for the North London club is having enough quality depth in most positions. Take the central defence, for example. The Spurs squad has Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Kevin Danso, Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies, who can all play in that position.
Despite this, Tottenham were linked with a move for Bournemouth defender Ilya Zabarnyi this summer. However, as per an exclusive report from Football Transfers, the player has chosen to join French giants PSG instead.
Tottenham submitted bid for Ilya Zabarnyi
Tottenham actually submitted a bid worth around £61.1m to the Cherries to sign the Ukrainian defender and their bid was accepted. However, the player’s preference seems to be joining Luis Enrique’s project in France.
Spurs’ bid, had the player accepted it, would have represented a record sale for Bournemouth. PSG continue to be in negotiations to agree on a fee. The 22-year-old’s preference has clearly proved to be a driving force in this transfer saga.
Speaking on the Football Transfers podcast, here is what Duncan Castles had to say. He said:
“Paris Saint-Germain are now confident of completing an agreement with Bournemouth for the transfer of the Ukraine centre-back. They’ve had an agreement with the 22-year-old for several months. Bournemouth have accepted a proposal of €70m from Tottenham, which would’ve been a club record fee. Owner Bill Foley has been pushing Bournemouth’s technical staff to achieve a club record for Zabarnyi.”
One wonders what Tottenham’s idea was, when they made the enormous bid to sign Zabarnyi. There is no doubt that he is extremely talented and formed a very promising partnership with Dean Huijsen last season but Spurs don’t need another centre-back.
Tottenham did not need another centre-back this summer
Of course, there is a chance that the bid for the 22-year-old could have been dependent on the future of Cristian Romero. However, it is a very high fee to be paying for a player when the club is well-sorted in that particular position.
The Ukrainian international would have certainly added to the quality of the Spurs squad, though. Especially considering the injury histories of Romero, Van de Ven and Dragusin, adding someone of Zabarnyi’s quality would have been interesting, at the right price.
However, it does seem like Ilya Zabarnyi will be headed to PSG this summer. Let’s wait and see how the negotiations play out on this front in the coming days.
