Football Italia

Radu Dragusin has been linked with a move to Juventus in the January transfer window due to lack of playing time at Tottenham, but the Romania international starts his fourth consecutive game for Spurs today.

Former Serie A star Dragusin starts his fourth game in a row for Tottenham today as Spurs host Ipswich Town in North London.

The Romania international, who joined Tottenham from Genoa in the 2024 January transfer window, played the full 90 minutes in the previous three games against Manchester City (EFL Cup), Aston Villa (Premier League), Galatasaray (Europa League).

Dragusin starts fourth consecutive Tottenham game amid Juventus rumours

Tottenham are short of options at the back due to injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, another ex-Genoa and Juventus centre-back. It remains to be seen if Dragusin will continue getting regular playing time once the pair return to action.

Napoli-owned striker Victor Osimhen is raising his profile and probably his price-tag while on loan at Galatasaray, scoring twice in a few minutes against Tottenham in the Europa League this evening.

The Nigeria international was sent to Turkey on loan this summer after transfers to Chelsea and Al Ahli fell apart.

It was hoped that this would allow him to get regular playing time and convince previously hesitant clubs that he was worth somewhere close to the release clause in his contract, which has now been lowered from €130m to €90m in the January window, then €75m in June 2025.

That plan may well be working, because the 25-year-old has four goals and four assists in seven competitive games, combining well with former Napoli striker Dries Mertens.

This evening he added to that tally with two goals in just a few minutes to give Galatasaray a 3-1 Europa League lead over Tottenham Hotspur in Istanbul.

It was not Italy international Guglielmo Vicario in goal this evening, but Fraser Forster.

Osimhen stuns Tottenham Hotspur

Give Victor Osimhen a chance and he will take it 🔥

Galatasaray re-take the lead against Tottenham 💥

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/nXobvZpICu

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 7, 2024

What a cross, what a finish 💫

Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen combine once again to increase Galatasaray’s lead to 3-1 over Tottenham 🤝

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/jfWCs9Krpf

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 7, 2024

After Tottenham Hotspur, now there are reports Real Madrid are also targeting Tijjani Reijnders, but Milan intend to lock him down to a new contract.

The Netherlands international has been hugely impressive so far this season and was on target in last night’s 3-1 Champions League victory at the Bernabeu.

There had been suggestions from Football Insider this week that Tottenham were planning a potential swoop in 2025, perhaps as early as January.

Now Calciomercato.it maintain that Real Madrid were also won over by his performance against them and are hoping to get there before Barcelona, Manchester City or Chelsea step up the pursuit too.

Milan holding on to Reijnders

However, Milan have no intention of letting the 26-year-old leave and are already planning how to lock him down to a new contract.

The former AZ Alkmaar talent currently earns only €1.7m per season, but the idea would be to almost double that to €3m with a new deal that runs to June 2030.

If he were to be sold, the absolute minimum price to even sit down and discuss it would be €60m.

According to reports in England, Tottenham Hotspur are targeting Milan and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, potentially even in January.

Football Insider claim that Spurs manager Ange Postecoglu is eager to strengthen the midfield and see Reijnders as an ideal signing for that role.

They would even try to make an initial approach in January, although even their sources admit the possibility of a sale mid-season is highly unlikely.

Reijnders a key figure for Milan

The 26-year-old was only purchased from AZ Alkmaar in July 2023 at a cost of €20.5m plus bonuses and his value on the transfer market has certainly risen since then.

He has been very versatile for the Rossoneri this season under coach Paulo Fonseca, occasionally moving to a more advanced trequartista role behind the striker.

Reijnders contributed three goals and two assists in 12 games between Serie A and the Champions League.

He also has 19 senior caps for the Netherlands under his belt, where he scored three times and assisted another two.

Tottenham supporters were left frustrated after Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario conceded from yet another set-piece over the weekend in the Premier League, with some calling for the former Empoli goalkeeper to be dropped, despite his side going on to record a 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.

Vicario still struggling from set-pieces at Tottenham

Tottenham fell 1-0 behind after 32 minutes of their Premier League match with Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. Morgan Rogers nodded home from close range after Viacrio failed to claim a routine corner.

Some supporters have suggested that the continued errors from corners and set pieces will ‘cost’ Spurs manager Ange Postecoglu his job, while others claim that the coach’s zonal marking tactic is part of the reason why Vicario is struggling to deal with set-pieces.

Worst keeper in the league vicario . He’s going to cost Ange his job .

— Alandavidkellyart (@Alandavidkelart) November 3, 2024

Ange has to go. How many times will we let a player box out Vicario? My sons 8th grade team knows to move the player.

— Spurs is pain (@rtotten) November 3, 2024

Vicario earned largely positive reviews after his €20m move to Tottenham from Empoli in the summer of 2023, but his ability to claim crosses have been a concern for the majority of his time in North London thus far.

The recent Italy international is currently the sixth-best performing Premier League goalkeeper in 2024-25 according to WhoScored.com’s average ratings.

His score of 6.83 falls just behind Mark Flekken of Brentford, Leicester city’s Mads Hermensen, Liverpool’s Alisson Becker, Arsenal’s David Raya and Nick Pope of Newcastle.

La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Radu Dragusin’s return to Juventus from Tottenham can’t be ruled out, but the Bianconeri need the green light from North London.

Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli confirmed on Saturday that the Bianconeri would be looking for a temporary replacement for the injured Gleison Bremer in the January transfer window.

Milan Skriniar, a former Inter defender now at PSG, and ex-Juventus centre-back Dragusin have emerged as the primary candidates for the Old Lady, but negotiations haven’t yet begun.

Dragusin has solid bond in Turin, but Juventus need Tottenham green light

The latest report from Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Dragusin still has a solid bond in Turin and would be open to listening to a Juventus proposal in January.

However, the Bianconeri are unlikely to consider a permanent transfer and would get the player on loan instead.

It remains to be seen if Spurs will agree to loan out the player in less than two months, so the Bianconeri are monitoring the market and looking for any possible opportunity.

With Gleison Bremer injured, Juventus are looking for a January reinforcement with options including Milan Skriniar from PSG, Tottenham’s Radu Dragusin and Empoli’s Ardian Ismajli.

Bremer had been a rock in the Bianconeri defence until he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, which will take approximately six months to heal from.

Since then, Juve have been leaking goals, conceding four against Inter and two with Parma, leading to suggestions they need a suitable replacement in the January transfer window.

Juventus candidates to replace Bremer

Calciomercato.com outline their options, noting that the ideal is former Inter centre-back Skriniar, who is currently struggling for playing time at Paris Saint-Germain.

However, on top of his refusal to leave Paris, the €8m per season salary and his fitness record are also concerns.

Dragusin is also not getting much time on the pitch at Tottenham Hotspur, with just six appearances in all competition so far this season.

The Romania international came up through the Juventus academy and was sold to Genoa for €9.7m, then six months later moved to Spurs for €25m plus bonuses.

Considering his issues getting into the Tottenham team, there could be a potential loan move to Turin in order to rediscover his form.

The most likely option is therefore Ismajli, who has impressed at Empoli this season and just turned 28 in September.

Napoli coach Antonio Conte is hoping to win the Scudetto with a third different Serie A club, but insists he also ‘got the maximum possible’ out of Tottenham Hotspur, who have gone downhill since he left.

The tactician is running away at the top of the Serie A table with Napoli after winning nine of his last 10 competitive games, drawing the other 0-0 away to Juventus.

He won the title at Juventus three years in a row from 2012 to 2014, then at Inter in 2021, along with a Premier League at Chelsea in 2017.

It was pointed out to Conte that perhaps the only club where he struggled to deliver was at Tottenham Hotspur, though he assured that was a coup of its own sort.

“I realise there are expectations, but if you go where there are difficulties…” he told DAZN.

“I think Tottenham did incredibly well, because they were ninth when I arrived and we got into the Champions League. The two years after I left, which was for personal reasons, they did not qualify for the Champions League.

“I think I achieved a lot there too. If people ask me for miracles, then I can speed them up and get the best out of the squad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we can win. I think I got the maximum possible out of that Tottenham side.”

Conte points out Tottenham struggles after his departure

The Italian tactician was on the Spurs bench from November 2021 to March 2023, overseeing 41 victories, 12 draws and 23 defeats.

They reached the Carabao Cup semi-final in 2021-22 and were knocked out of the Champions League Round of 16 by Milan in March 2023.

At the time, he caused controversy among the Tottenham fans by pointing out the history of the club did not warrant ambitions much higher than that.

Now Conte is at Napoli and they started the season with a shock 3-0 defeat at Verona, but have not looked back since.

“For Napoli to win the title would be incredible, because we gave ourselves a three-year window. Napoli won two years ago, but Milan won three years ago and Juventus four. The difference is that those teams finished in the top four afterwards and we finished 10th, losing many players,” he continued.

“Miracles can happen, we can speed up the process, but the process still needs to be gone through.

“If we were to achieve our target of Europe, that would already be something special, so we’ve got to stay humble.”

Italy international Destiny Udogie registered an assist for Tottenham during their entertaining 4-1 win over West Ham United, alongside Guglielmo Vicario, while Caleb Okoli was the only Azzurri representative in the Premier League to pick up a win over the weekend.

Here is how the Italy internationals in the Premier League got on in the eighth round of fixtures.

Tottenham delight for Italy duo

Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie both started as usual in an entertaining 4-1 London derby victory for Tottenham against West Ham. The recently-capped Italy goalkeeper could not have done too much to prevent Mohammed Kudus on the cut-back in the first-half, but had relatively little to do from there.

Udogie had slightly more involvement in the game’s proceedings. He was criticised for some soft defending in the penalty area when Jarrod Boewn provided the assist for Kudus’s goal, but went on to have an encouraging game afterwards.

He registered an assist for Yves Bissouma not long into the second half, pouncing on a great pass from Son Heung-min, before cutting back for his teammate to slam home from the edge of the area.

Okoli and Leicester win

Caleb Okoli played the full 90 minutes at centre-back as Leicester City ended up 3-2 victors in a chaotic comeback against Southampton on Saturday. The Foxes fell behind after eight minutes, then conceded again 20 minutes later, but responded with three second-half goals, grabbing the last in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Okoli, who has been included in the last two Italy squads, was given an average rating of 5/10 by the English press, who praised his strength, but noted a tendency to let players slip past him against Southampton.

Word of advice for Calafiori

Riccardo Calafiori was part of the Arsenal side that lost 2-0 away to Bournemouth on Saturday. He and his teammates were reduced to 10 after William Saliba’s dismissal half an hour in, and are also in the midst of a minor injury crisis, without captain Martin Odegaard or England star Bukayo Saka.

It wasn’t the most exciting day-out for Calafiori, and outlets including Football London noted that he has a slight tendency to rush into tackles. He did a relatively sound job in his defensive duties for the hour after Arsenal were reduced to 10 men though.

Elsewhere in the Premier League this weekend, Italy’s Emerson Palmieri played the full 90 minutes during West Ham’s 4-1 loss away to Tottenham and Italy international Sandro Tonali started in a 1-0 loss to Brighton.

Neither Federico Chiesa nor Cesare Casadei were in the matchday squads as Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield. Jorginho was an unused substitute in Arsenal’s loss to Bournemouth.

Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie and Daniel Maldini could start in Italy’s Nations League fixture against Israel as coach Luciano Spalletti is considering making some tweaks from their last match against Belgium.

The Azzurri still sit at the top of their group after the 2-2 draw against Domenico Tedesco’s outfit last Friday, and Spalletti is thinking of giving a chance to some of the youngest players included in his latest call-up, as Maldini could make his debut with the senior national team.

After coming on in the second half to replace Federico Dimarco, Tottenham winger Udogie could take the Inter‘s player place on the left in a game that could see Spalletti win his 10th game as Italy manager.

Udogie, Maldini and more: Spalletti’s possible changes in Italy starting line-up

Italy will host Israel at the Blue Energy Stadium in Udine on Monday, and Spalletti is considering rotating his squad significantly from their last Nations League match against Belgium, as Monza’s Daniel Maldini could debut in the Azzurri’s shirt and Udogie is set to replace Dimarco.

According to Milannews, the Italy coach could make changes in every department – 20-year-old Niccolò Pisilli, who was called up for the first time like Maldini and made his debut against Isreael, could start in midfield alongside Juventus‘ Nicolò Fagioli, while Napoli‘s Alessandro Buongiorno has chances to lead the defensive trio by replacing Alessandro Bastoni.

However, Spalletti will likely decide on the starting line-up shortly before the match, as Italy want to maintain their group leadership over France.