Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a potential boost in their bid to bring Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to north London this summer.
What's the talk?
According to a recent report by Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, SS Lazio are interested in a move for Tottenham left-back Sergio Reguilon in the coming days, with Antonio Conte's side believed to be happy to sanction the 25-year-old's departure on a season-long loan with a €20m (£17m) option to buy prior to September's transfer deadline.
Reguilon must go
In a separate deal this summer, it's thought Fabio Paratici is ready to offer up to £50.7m for one of Tottenham's own transfer targets in the shape of Lazio attacking midfielder Milinkovic-Savic - who is said to be open to the idea of a move to north London due to the club having qualified for this season's Champions League.
As such, Paratici and Conte must look to organise a player-plus-cash deal for the Serbia international this summer with the Spaniard being used as a sweetener in Spurs' pursuit of the 27-year-old.
With it being evident that Reguilon is not a long-term part of Conte's first-team plans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, coupled with just how talented a forward-thinking midfielder Milinkovic-Savic undoubtedly is, should there be a possibility of using the defender to prise away the Lazio star, Paratici simply must capitalise on it.
Indeed, following Conte's arrival in north London last November, the 52-year-old has largely preferred to play Ryan Sessegnon at left-wing back, with the £22.5m-rated Reguilon having started just 13 Premier League fixtures under the Italian's management - being left out of Tottenham's matchday squad for each of the opening three league games of the 2022/23 campaign.
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This lack of game time has been exacerbated by the summer arrival of Ivan Perisic, who starred for Tottenham in the 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, while the £53k-per-week Spaniard who George Sessions labelled "shocking" has reportedly been banished from first-team training by Conte.
Meanwhile, it is not hard to understand why Conte would be interested in a deal to bring Milinkovic-Savic to the club this summer, as the 27-year-old was in astonishing form in Italy last time out.
Indeed, over his 36 Serie A appearances in 2021/22, the £63m-rated talent was deadly going forwards, scoring 11 goals, providing 11 assists and creating ten big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots, making 1.4 key passes and completing 1.2 dribbles per fixture.
The £96k-per-week midfielder also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making an average of 0.9 interceptions, 1.9 tackles, 51.2 passes, 1.1 clearances and winning 6.9 duels - at a success rate of 51% - per game.
These returns saw the Serbian who David Amoyal dubbed "unreal" average an extraordinary SofaScore match rating of 7.30, not only ranking him as Lazio's best performer in the league but also as the joint tenth-best player in the division as a whole.
As such, with it being abundantly clear that the Italian manager has no use for the 25-year-old full-back, and with the signing of a new central midfielder known to be one of Conte's primary targets ahead of the closure of the summer transfer window next week, it would indeed appear an extremely wise move for Paratici to attempt a player-plus-cash swoop for the Lazio sensation in the coming days.