A major update has emerged in Tottenham Hotspur's pursuit of Cristian Romero...

What's the word?

With the new Premier League season just a couple of weeks away, the North Londoners are desperately looking to complete some more business before they go toe-to-toe with defending champions Manchester City on the opening day.

Pierluigi Gollini and Bryan Gil are two new additions to the side, with the Atalanta centre-back likely to be the next name through the door as Spurs have been in talks over a €55m (£47m) deal for quite some time now.

Italian transfer guru Fabrizio Romano dropped a huge claim in Spurs' attempts to secure him - writing on Twitter, he said:

"Cristian Romero hopes to join Tottenham as [a] priority. He’s pushing directly with the club, there’s nothing with Barcelona - only Spurs. Tottenham want Atalanta to accept their last bid as Romero’s wish is to join Spurs. [It's a] tense situation between clubs, to be resolved soon."

Good news?

This should come as hugely encouraging news for the Lilywhites faithful, who will certainly want to see a new centre-back arrive in the capital before they face City.

The prospect of having Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez at the back is rather worrying, especially after they were dubbed "one of the worst partnerships" in the top-flight last season by ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara.

A combination of a lack of leadership and individual mistakes meant Spurs recorded the worst defensive record of any of the traditional 'big six' - even Arsenal, who finished below them in the table, conceded fewer times.

That's why they are desperate for a new defender and it is also why they are heavily pursuing a move for the Serie A's 'Defender of the Year' for the 2020/21 campaign.

Romano claims that the Argentina international hopes to join the club, so that's one boost, and there's another in the fact that it is only Spurs pursuing his signature.

There's no Barcelona, Manchester United or any other team to battle, so it's all up to chairman Daniel Levy and sporting director Fabio Paratici to come to an agreement.

It seems like Spurs have edged one step closer to sealing a game-changing arrival, and that should leave fans absolutely buzzing.

AND in other news, Nuno must ruthlessly axe £90k-p/w "disgrace", he's no longer good enough for Spurs...