Tottenham Hotspur were active on deadline day earlier this week as Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte worked to get a deal for Pedro Porro over the line.

The January transfer window slammed shut on Tuesday night and Spurs were able to secure the Spaniard's services with minutes to spare as they agreed an initial loan move with Sporting Lisbon, with an obligation to make it permanent in the summer.

Tottenham also signed Arnaut Danjuma on loan from Villarreal earlier in the month, and those were the only two arrivals to bolster Conte's squad during the January window.

However, the club were also eyeing up potential improvements at the heart of the defence, and football.london recently claimed that Spurs 'extensively' scouted Ukraine international Ilya Zabarnyi and appreciated the young talent.

Despite their interest in the 20-year-old, Paratici watched on from afar as fellow Premier League club Bournemouth splashed out £24m to sign the defender on a permanent deal on deadline day. 

The football.london article posts that Spurs may think that he would not have made an immediate impact at the club or that they could sign him in the summer, but also adds that 'many' people expect him to become a star.

Cherries chief Neill Blake hailed Zabarnyi  upon signing him as he said: “Despite only being 20, he has played at the highest level for club and country and has established himself as one of the most sought-after young defenders in the world."

Talent scout Jacek Kulig named the Ukrainian as one of two "possible jackpot" centre-back signings for clubs to make outside of the major leagues, and Paratici is culpable of a deadline day howler by missing out on this jackpot by allowing Bournemouth to snap him up ahead of them. 

By the age of 20, Zabarnyi has already been capped 24 times by Ukraine at senior level and has a wealth of experience of playing in European competitions.

In the Champions League last season, the young defender averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.87 across six appearances - making 3.9 tackles and interceptions per match and winning 64% of his duels - after playing six times in the competition in the 2020/21 campaign.

Meanwhile, Davinson Sanchez, Japhet Tanganga, Eric Dier and Ben Davies have all averaged Sofascore ratings of 6.80 or lower in the Champions League for Tottenham this season.

This suggests that the 20-year-old Ukrainian could have been an immediate improvement on a number of the club's current centre-back options if he could have translated his form in Europe over to Conte's side.

Imagine how much the defensive machine will cost if he now enjoys a terrific second half of the season with Bournemouth to keep them afloat in the Premier League. It could be far more than £24m, given that it would not make any sense for the Cherries not to sell him for a profit, and the south coast club could end up hitting the jackpot with him... whilst Spurs watch on from afar with regret.