Tottenham Hotspur have submitted a bid for Barcelona central midfielder Franck Kessie.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by Spanish publication Diario SPORT, who claim that Fabio Paratici has now submitted a €15m (£13m) bid for the 26-year-old, with whom Xavi Hernandez is believed to be willing to part in the January transfer window due to the Ivory Coast international's peripheral role in Barca's first team squad.

However, the report does not reveal whether or not the LaLiga side are willing to accept Spurs' bid for the midfielder, with it being said that Kessie's sale will 'depend directly on a good offer' being made, while the player himself is thought to be happy at the Camp Nou despite his limited game time following his move from AC Milan last summer.

He's a "dream signing"

With Antonio Conte's desire to sign a more forward-thinking midfielder in January being well documented, the argument that Kessie would be something of a "dream signing" - in the words of content creator Ryan Haber - for Paratici to bring to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this winter is an extremely easy one to make.

While it is true that the £44m-rated talent has not had much of a chance to impress in Spain - starting just five of his 13 appearances for Barcelona, scoring one goal along the way - considering just how impressive Kessie was during his time in Milan, it is not difficult to understand why both Conte and Paratici would be keen on the 26-year-old.

Indeed, over his 37 appearances in Serie A back in 2020/21, the £153k-per-week midfielder was in devastating form going forwards, scoring 13 goals, registering four assists and creating five big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.3 shots, making 0.8 key passes and completing 1.2 dribbles - at a success rate of 80% - per game.

The 60-cap international also caught the eye in metrics more typical of position, making an average of 1.4 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 1.3 clearances and winning 5.2 duels - at a 53% success rate - per match, as well as playing an average of 2.8 long balls and completing 47.9 passes - at a success rate of 89% - per fixture.

These returns saw the player, who Haber also dubbed "absolutely unreal", average a simply sensational Sofascore match rating of 7.18, not only ranking him as Milan's third-best performer in the league but also as the joint 26th-best player in Serie A as a whole that season.

Furthermore, according to FBref, Kessie also ranks in the top 6% of midfielders in Europe's big five leagues for touches in the opposition penalty area per 90, in addition to the top 24% for progressive passes received, the top 23% for shots and the top 28% for non-penalty xG over the last 365 days - further highlighting just how forward-thinking a midfielder he truly is.

As such, it would indeed appear as if Kessie would be something of a dream signing for Tottenham this winter, and, should Paratici manage to get a deal over the line for a figure in the region of £13m, the 26-year-old would very much look to be one of the bargains of the season.