Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly ‘planning’ to sign Torino centre-back Perr Schuurs this summer, who has been linked with Liverpool and Crystal Palace.
Ange Postecoglou is keen to add another defender to his squad alongside Micky van de Ven, who signed for Spurs for a fee of £43m on Tuesday.
The manager has been open about wanting another centre-back. That is no surprise either, considering Tottenham conceded a shocking 63 goals in the Premier League last season.
In a recent interview, Postecoglou said: “We’ve to see what happens with outgoings, but the potential is there to bring in one more centre back after Van de Ven.”
Now, reports suggest Tottenham are stepping up their interest in Schuurs.
As previously reported by Football365, Jurgen Klopp personally requested the Liverpool hierarchy sign the Torino star back in July, but a concrete offer never materialised.
It was also claimed last month that Crystal Palace had reached an agreement to sign the £28m-rated defender amid reports linking Marc Guehi with a move elsewhere.
Schuurs remains a Torino player, however, and now Tottenham are ready to make an offer for him in the near future.
That is according to The Times, who claim Spurs are ‘planning to bring in’ Schuurs, despite already signing Van de Ven and young centre-back Ashley Phillips from Blackburn Rovers.
This report was later backed up by transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, who wrote on Twitter that Schuurs had been “discussed internally” by the Tottenham hierarchy.
Schuurs made 30 Serie A appearances for Torino last season. In the process, he put in some excellent defensive performances and helped his team to nine clean sheets.
Standing at 6ft3, the 23-year-old is an imposing figure on the pitch and is excellent in the air. He also averages 1.97 tackles per match, which ranks him among the top 19% of centre-backs in Europe’s five main leagues in the last 12 months.
With numbers like that, it’s no surprise to see the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Crystal Palace vying for his signature.
Schuurs won’t come cheap, however, with Torino demanding a fee of £28m for his services.
As mentioned by Postecoglou, Tottenham’s ability to spend big on more players may depend on outgoings. Spurs have just accepted an £86.4m bid from Bayern Munich for Harry Kane, though, so that won’t be a problem if he does leave.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if Tottenham table an opening bid for Schuurs in the next few days, as the reports suggest.