Antonio Conte wanted £26m World Cup star at Inter, now Tottenham are going for him – Romano

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Tottenham manager Antonio Conte has been an admirer of Morocco World Cup star Sofyan Amrabat for a number of years.

Amrabat has been one of the stars of the tournament in Qatar and has helped his country stun Spain to set up a quarter-final with Portugal on Saturday.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano told Caught Offside that Conte wanted to sign the midfielder during his time as manager of Inter Milan.

And now Spurs are keen on a deal, with Sky reporter Florian Plettenburg tweeting that the in-demand midfielder could be available for a €30 million (£26 million) fee.

Conte has been a long term admirer of Amrabat

“Sofyan Amrabat has had a great World Cup and we’re now seeing more and more transfer rumours about the Morocco midfielder,” Romano said.

“I spoke to his agent Mohammed Sinouh today and he told me that there are many calls but no advanced negotiations.

“Sofyan only wants to focus on the World Cup and Fiorentina will try to keep him until June.

“Tottenham were close to signing him last January then Fiorentina made the deal collapse, he’s always been in the list of Antonio Conte since he was Inter Milan manager.”

Amrabat’s energy in the heart of midfield has been exceptional for Morocco and another big performance is needed to get past Portugal.

From a Spurs point of view, it would be a case of more desire and graft in their engine room, rather than the craft some supporters may want.

But given Conte loves playing a two-man midfield, which puts a lot of strain on the duo he deploys, there are definitely worse ideas than signing someone who looks like he can do the work of two men.