Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are both interested in signing Axel Disasi from Chelsea on loan until the end of the season.
Transfer deadline day is here, and several top clubs are expected to be busy on the market.
Tottenham have been in need of reinforcements in attack as well as defence since the window opened. Kevin Danso was brought in on Sunday, but Spurs need another centre-half.
Fabrizio Romano has now shared an update on one Tottenham target – Chelsea’s Axel Disasi.
Why Axel Disasi prefers Aston Villa over Tottenham
Tottenham have faced multiple rejections already in this window.
Randal Kolo Muani said no to Spurs and joined Juventus from PSG in January, while Bayern Munich star Mathys Tel also turned down Tottenham.
TBR Football exclusively revealed that Disasi wants to join Aston Villa instead of Tottenham before Monday night’s deadline, but there is a problem.
Chelsea aren’t too keen to let the defender move to Villa Park because they feel Unai Emery’s side are their direct rivals in the Premier League.
That is why the Blues have accepted Tottenham’s loan proposal for Disasi, but the player is adamant that he wants to move to Aston Villa.
Why? Romano has revealed that the Frenchman wants to play Champions League football this season – Villa can offer that to him but Spurs cannot as they are in the Europa League.
Romano said in a video on his YouTube channel: “Disasi, agreement, Chelsea-Tottenham. You can tell me ‘yes, Tottenham already signed a centre-back – Kevin Danso from Lens’. What I can tell you is that Tottenham want one more because Dragusin’s injury is very serious.
“So, they are trying for this agreement with Chelsea. Loan deal, no buy option, big loan fee, but the player, as of now, midnight, is still not accepting Tottenham.
“They are pushing from the club to see what happens with Disasi, but why he’s not accepting? Because he wanted to go to Aston Villa, play Champions League football.
“He spoke to Unai Emery, but Chelsea are saying no to Aston Villa for Joao Felix and for Disasi because they are seen as direct competitors for the Champions League spot in the Premier League.”
Tottenham set to miss out on another target
Getting rejected by Tel and Kolo Muani was bad enough for Tottenham, and Disasi, a player Chelsea signed for £38 million (Guardian), could join the list too now if he doesn’t change his stance on deadline day.
That, however, is not all.
Tottenham were linked with a move to sign Breel Embolo from Monaco in the final days of January, but that move is unlikely too now.
L’Equipe journalist Loic Tanzi has reported that Embolo is set to stay at his current club despite strong interest from Spurs in recent days.