Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Stefan de Vrij to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to a report by Italian media outlet CalcioMercatoWeb, who claim that Antonio Conte is hoping to land the Inter Milan centre-back for a figure in the region of €5m (£4.3m) this winter - with the defender’s current deal at the San Siro set to expire at the end of the season.
The report goes on to state that Tottenham would be willing to offer the 30-year-old a salary matching his current €4m per year (£3.5m per year) - roughly £67k per week - something that Inter are not believed to be willing to match.
Furthermore, the Italian site go on to suggest that, in a bid to sweeten the deal, Fabio Paratici would be willing to offer the Nerazzurri Davinson Sanchez on loan until June - at which point the Serie A side will have the option to buy the defender for €18m (£15.7m).
Sanchez upgrade
Considering just how underwhelming Sanchez has largely been since his then-club-record £42m signing back in the summer of 2017, coupled with how much success Conte enjoyed with De Vrij at Inter, the argument that swapping the Colombia international for the Netherlands star would be a great move for Spurs is an easy one to make.
Indeed, since the 53-year-old’s arrival at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 12 months ago, the £22m-rated defender has started just 25 of his 36 outings under the Italian - with only six of these starts coming in the 2022/23 Premier League campaign, largely as a result of injuries sustained by Cristian Romero.
Meanwhile, over De Vrij’s 32 Serie A appearances in Inter’s title-winning campaign back in 2020/21, the £13m-rated talent was a crucial part of Conte’s backline, helping his side keep 11 clean sheets, as well as making an average of 1.3 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 2.9 clearances and winning 3.3 duels - at a success rate of 60% - per game.
The 30-year-old also impressed going forwards, scoring one goal and creating one big chance, in addition to taking an average of 0.4 shots, playing 2.7 long balls and completing 57.4 passes - at a success rate of 94% - per fixture.
These returns saw the 59-cap star average a fantastic SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking the Dutchman as Conte’s tenth-best performer in the top flight of Italian football that season.
Furthermore, De Vrij’s former Lazio teammate Mauricio also spoke extremely highly of the centre-back, stating: “Stefan is a great defender and deserves to be at a big club. He’s very tall, he’s strong and fast, he runs a lot – he’s a monster!
“He also has excellent technique and knows how to play the ball like few others, and that’s the difference between him and other players. He’s a calm defender who never gets agitated.”
As such, while it is true that De Vrij is significantly older than Sanchez, considering just how well-suited the 30-year-old appears to be to Conte’s style of football, it is undeniable that the Inter colossus would represent a huge upgrade on the Colombian - leading us to believe that Paratici must do all he can to complete a swap deal this winter.