We had the blessing of Fabrizio Romano! Just hours after a deal was agreed between Tottenham Hotspur and Swedish attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski, Spurs have agreed another deal with Kulusevski’s Juventus teammate, midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur!
Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus to Tottenham, deal done and here we go! Agreement reached for 19 million euros plus another 6 million euros. He joins Spurs with Dejan Kulusevski. ⚪️ #THFC
Juventus will sign Denis Zakaria to replace Bentancur with the deal still to be completed. pic.twitter.com/zXATP05KS3
— Fabrice Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 30, 2022
It’s quite a spectacular price for a player who could improve Tottenham’s midfield options. Even if he hits all of his escalators, Spurs won’t pay more than £20million for him and could pay as little as £15. A very nice and tidy affair.
According to blog friend Dan Kilpatrick, signing Bentancur means they will now drop their interest in Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat. That’s good, because while Amrabat was apparently wanted by Spurs manager Antonio Conte, Bentancur is the better player and comes on a permanent deal.
#thfc Bentacur is now Spurs’ main midfield target. So the loan deal for Sofyan Amrabat is off if Spurs land the man from Juve. @standardsport
—Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) January 30, 2022
With the signing of Bentancur, Spurs have addressed one of their most pressing needs – strengthening the central midfield, especially with the imminent departure of Tanguy Ndombele and (possibly) Gio Lo Celso. Kulusevski seems to compensate for the possible departures of Dele, or Steven Bergwijn (still linked to Ajax).
That leaves a backup striker, right-back and central defense as the main areas of concern. Not all of them will be tackled in the January window, although I would be slightly surprised if Spurs had no more aces up their sleeve with a day to go in the window.
But all in all a very nice deal, even though they left it late.
