According to reports out of Italy, AS Roma are bracing themselves for a fresh approach for midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo, and it seems Spurs are the only club who have the financial means to make a deal possible.

Antonio Conte’s desire to bring in a creative midfielder (Evening Standard) appears to have been put on the back burner, with Spurs’ current priority on offloading players (Alessio Lento).

However, Fabio Paratici has been in Italy recently and it’s believed contact has been made regarding Zaniolo (Paolo Bargiggia).

A report from journalist Daniele Miceli for Sportmediaset news (27/07/22 via Tutto Juve and Sport Witness) suggests that Zaniolo may be more inclined to stay at Roma this summer, but if any team were to be in a position to meet Roma’s valuation, it’s Spurs.

Roma want around £42.5 million for Zaniolo (La Repubblica – 22/07/22 via Sport Witness), and the healthy financial situation at Tottenham Hotspur means they would be well placed to make any transfer viable without any difficulty.

It emerged that Juventus have some interest in the player too, but the Turin club would struggle to meet Roma’s demands according to the Italian media outlet.

Miceli said: “Zaniolo seems to be oriented towards staying with Roma today, both his teammates and Mourinho have asked him. The only team that can break the balance is Tottenham, because they have the financial means to reach the 50 million euros requested by Roma. In September, margins could reopen to discuss the renewal of the contract.”

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Should Conte decide that Zaniolo is his man, the club should be more than comfortable putting the money down to secure his signature and help the Spurs become even more competitive. It does feel as though one more big signing could be the tipping point to make Spurs genuine title contenders, and Zaniolo could be that key.

Whether the player would want to make the move or not is a different matter. We’ve already seen one Italian youngster decide to stay in Serie A this summer, and by the sounds of it Zaniolo could be thinking the same as Alessandro Bastoni. Luckily, there’s other options out there if that is the case.

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