Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin has endured an underwhelming time in the Premier League since arriving at the N17 from Genoa in January.
Signed in a £25m deal from Genoa, the Romanian international has mostly warmed the benches at Spurs. He has played as a back-up to first-choice centre-back pairing Cristian Romero and Van de Ven, and as a result, the Bucharest-born talent has managed only limited game time under Ange Postecoglou.
This has led to rumours circulating about his future at Tottenham. Radu Dragusin has been linked with a move back to Serie A, with Napoli keen on securing his services in the January transfer window. However, his agent Florian Manea, has quashed rumours of any imminent move away from the north London club.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone, and I don’t think Tottenham want to let him go. Radu is focused and wants to play his chances with Spurs. I’ve seen the news too, but – I repeat – I haven’t heard from anyone,” Florian Manea was quoted by Calcio Napoli 24.
“We like that many teams are following him, but I also told the others who called me that – to date – we are not interested. No player is happy if he doesn’t play a lot, but he wants to fight for his place. We’ll see later how many games he plays, and we’ll evaluate, at this moment it’s premature to think about a transfer.”
Dragusin was close to joining Napoli last year, with Manea affirming that he had spoken to their president Aurelio De Laurentiis. The Naples-based outfit were understood to have made a big offer to sign him the 22-year-old from Genoa but he wanted was attracted to Premier League football.
Manea has clarified that the Romanian defender is focusing on fighting for his place in the Tottenham squad and is currently not thinking about any potential move. However, he didn’t completely shut down a future transfer, hinting that they could decide to leave if the situation doesn’t change under Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs beat Bayern Munich to Dragusin’s signature, with the defender penning a long-term deal until 2030. He has only made four appearances across all competitions—which is very less for a young player needing regular game time to develop. Thus, it is not surprising to see the Romanian international linked with a move back to Italy, where he grew into one of the talented young defenders at Genoa.
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.
