Tottenham Hotspur will have to pay as much as £62.4 million to sign Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo, as per CalcioMercato, which could put off the English club from signing the young Italian. Spurs have been pursuing the 19-year-old for quite some time now, while also being linked with the likes of Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele.
Zaniolo could be the replacement for Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, who announced recently that he wants to leave the club, with Real Madrid his likely destination. Zaniolo moved to Roma from Inter Milan ahead of the 2018-19 season for €4.5 million and went on to have a fantastic season.
The midfielder made 36 appearances for the Italian club, scoring 6 times and assisting twice, making a big impression in his first season in Serie A. The teenager’s fantastic form also saw him earn a call-up to the Italian national side and he has gone on to play twice for Italy.
During his one-year spell at Inter Milan, Zaniolo didn’t make a single appearance for the club, after signing from Virtus Entella for a fee of €1.8 million. The versatile midfielder’s contract with Roma expires in 2023, with the player having signed a five-year deal when he signed for them in 2018.
Is he worth the money?
The Italian midfielder has come out of nowhere and into the limelight in the 2018-19 season, and has been one of the players of the season in Serie A. The 19-year-old is a versatile midfielder who can play in several positions – in the centre of midfield, to attacking positions as well as on the right.
A quick and direct dribbler of the ball, Zaniolo is a player whose first instinct is to drive at the opposition defence, making him a very good player to have in counter-attacking situations. Zaniolo also likes to get stuck in and tackle to retrieve the ball and play it forward quickly to his attacking teammates.
In his first season in senior football, Zaniolo has shown that he has the potential to be a very good player, but it is too soon to say if he can be consistent as he has only played one full season in a top league like Serie A. Spurs would be better off paying that amount of money to sign someone like Lo Celso, who was excellent in a more competitive league like La Liga, while also having played for Paris Saint-Germain.