Tottenham had tried to sign ‘this’ 21-year-old last winter.
Tottenham have had this need for a new midfielder for some time now, and while the Lilywhites did sanction a £35m move for Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid in the winter, the North Londoners are still light on marquee players in the middle of the park.
And while a number of players have been looked at by Tottenham, AS Roma midfielder Niccolo Pisilli is among those considered at N17. The 21-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough spell with the Serie A giants recently, and that has attracted approaches from around Europe.
But Spurs’ interest in him is not new. As per recent reports, Vinai & Co looked to pounce on his signatures in the same window that they signed Gallagher.
Tottenham submitted a bid for Niccolo Pisilli; The Lilywhites could push for his signing again?
According to a recent report from ASRomaLive via Sport Witness, Tottenham submitted a €20m offer to sign Pisilli in the winter transfer window, but AS Roma rejected that bid, as they wanted to keep hold of him given his growing importance within the roster.
When you talk about Pisilli, many would remember him from that standout performance that he enjoyed in the Europa League, where he netted a brace against VfB Stuttgart and ended up convincing GPG to hand him more opportunities in the league. This included the starts against Juventus and Genoa that followed.
And it looks like Tottenham continue to remain interested in his signing. One possible route to that happening is said to be a swap deal (at least that is what the aforementioned report states).
It goes on to indicate that Tottenham may need to include Destiny Udogie in the negotiations if they are to push AS Roma into selling Pisilli.
That would become more interesting given that Juventus hold interest in signing Udogie and are willing to put their money where their mouth is to secure his signature.
Does Udogie as a makeweight make sense?
So if Tottenham were to end up putting Udogie as a make-weight, they could also leverage this Juventus interest for AS Roma to consider their offer.
That being said, if it also comes to Udogie being offered, Tottenham would likely ask a minimal fee alongside Pisilli given that they would want to reach that €30m figure if they are to sell Udogie.
But we will see where this goes. Key to this remains whether AS Roma are open to losing Niccolò Pisilli for a fee or on a probable swap deal.
Do you think Niccolo Pisilli will be a good addition to the current squad at Hotspur Way? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.