Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte would love to secure a deal for Nicolo Barella in the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to the Daily Star journalist Paul Brown, who claimed in a recent interview with Give Me Sport that, amid Spurs' links with a move for the Inter Milan midfielder, Tottenham's new manager would love to seal a reunion with his former player in north London.

When questioned about Tottenham's reported interest in a move for the Italy international, Brown said: "Conte would clearly love to have Barella come to Spurs."

Paratici must move

The fact that Barella has recently put pen to paper on a new deal with the Nerazzurri would appear to make Tottenham's potential move for the midfielder slightly more challenging. However, when taking into account just how impressive the 24-year-old has been in recent years, it would nevertheless appear an absolute must for Fabio Paratici to do that all he can to land the Italian in January.

Indeed, over his 11 Serie A appearances so far this season, the £58.5m-rated Barella has scored one goal, registered five assists and created a whopping nine big chances for his teammates, as well as taking two shots and making 1.8 key passes per game.

The player who Claudio Marchisio dubbed a "complete" midfielder has also impressed in metrics more typical of his position, making 0.5 interceptions, 1.6 tackles and 40 passes and winning 5.3 duels per match.

These returns have seen the £75k-per-week Italian average an extraordinary SofaScore match rating of 7.44, ranking him as the fifth-best performer in the whole of Serie A.

While it may be an expensive deal to get over the line, Barella clearly seems a player who would be well worth the cost. Also, he would be a signing around whom Conte could build his new-look Tottenham team, just like the 52-year-old did when piecing together his title-winning side at Inter.

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