Tottenham Hotspur are looking to secure a deal to bring Bologna defender Takehiro Tomiyasu to the club as they aim to complete their first signing under Nuno Espirito Santo.

What's the story?

According to well-known journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Spurs have ma the Italian outfit, although negotiations are still ongoing.

He tweeted: "Tottenham are still working on Takehiro Tomiyasu deal. Opening bid around €18m [add ons included] to Bologna still on the table, price tag around €20/25m. Negotiations ongoing. Tomiyasu wants to join Spurs."

Italian outlet Tuttosport (as reported by Sport Witness), provided an update on the situation following Romano's tweet, claiming that the north London outfit must raise their offer by €2m to make it a new total of around €20m (£17.1m), in order to meet Bologna's valuation.

Nuno will surely be buzzing

Espirito Santo will be looking to make some key additions to his first-team squad this summer after the capital club finished a hugely disappointing 2020/21 campaign in seventh position.

Several stars have been linked with a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in recent weeks, but it's 22-year-old centre-back Tomiyasu who appears to be the closest to signing on the dotted line.

At first glance, the Japan international appears to be an extremely astute purchase, should chairman Daniel Levy get this deal over the line.

He's comfortable playing at right-back as well as at the heart of the defence, and his versatility will be a very useful asset, given that Espirito Santo showed at Wolves that he often likes to switch between a back four and a back five.

A current teammate of Tomiyasu's at Bologna, Mitchell Dijks, lauded the youngster back in 2019 saying: "He is very strong, a real Japanese warrior," after a string of impressive displays.

Since then, the former Sint-Truiden ace has gone from strength to strength. He made 1.5 tackles per league game last term, 1.7 interceptions and 3.3 clearances, placing him in the top three compared to his teammates for each metric.

Therefore, news that Spurs aren't far away from agreeing on terms for Tomiyasu with his current club will surely leave Espirito Santo buzzing.

He would be a quality first addition to the Portuguese tactician's reign, and give him a solid base to build from at Tottenham.

And, in other news...Nuno could find his next Jimenez with Spurs swoop for £25m beast who lit up Euro 2020