Tottenham Hotspur are ready to step up their efforts to sign an Italy international but the North London club have been told that they will have to pay a sizable fee for the player.
The player in question is Davide Frattesi, who had an impressive first season at Inter Milan, but has struggled to get starts under his belt this campaign.
It first emerged last month that Tottenham are fans of the 25-year-old and see him as a potential option to bolster their midfield.
The same update alleged that Inter would be willing to cash in on the midfielder for the right fee and that the Italian might demand a transfer, given his lack of game time at the San Siro.
InterLive have now also backed up Tottenham’s interest in Frattesi, alleging that the Lilywhites want to ‘tighten their grip’ over the Italy international.
The Premier League side are thought to be willing to offer the player a substantial wage increase to convince him to make the switch from Milan to London.
Additionally, it is explained that Spurs are keen on making an early move in January in order to move ahead of the competition for Fratesi.
However, the outlet adds that the Nerazurri have informed Tottenham that they would have to offer €35m (£28.9m), which is the fee that Simone Inzaghi’s men paid to sign him from Sassuolo 18 months ago.
While Tottenham have two defensive midfield options in Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur, and some top attacking midfield options in Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall, they do need another box-to-box midfielder.
Pape Sarr is the only player in that mould in the squad, which is why the Senegalese star has started nearly every game over recent months.
Frattesi fits the profile that Ange Postecoglou would be looking for and £30m is not an outrageous fee to pay for a player of the Italian’s experience and quality.
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