Report: Tottenham could now miss out on Bastoni signing as Inter hatch plan involving another Conte target

By Lee Connor

Tottenham and Alessandro Bastoni seem to be in a never ending cycle of differing reports over the last week or two.

Spurs are known to want Bastoni as Antonio Conte sees him as the perfect signing for his defence. However, as yet, there is no deal in place for Bastoni to move and there are a number of pieces which need to shift in order for anything to happen.

One of those must-happens is Inter accepting a bid. At the moment, the Italian club are under pressure to sell a big name or two to balance the books. Bastoni is one name who could be sold, but according to Calciomercato, Inter could have a plan up their sleeve to prevent Spurs landing their defender.

CM reports how Inter could instead choose to sell Denzel Dumfries to Manchester United to prevent them from losing one of their very top stars. Incidentally, Dumfries has also been linked with Tottenham as recently as last month.

Dumfries – who has been dubbed ‘amazing’ by Ally McCoist – is said to be among the targets Conte is considering to fill one of his wing-back slots in north London. However, he wants Bastoni more, and this interest from United in Dumfries could throw a spanner in the works for Spurs.

TBR’s View: Inter Surely Doing All They Can To Keep Bastoni From Joining Tottenham

While balancing the books is massively important in the game, so is keeping your best players. And Inter need to keep Bastoni if they can.

Selling Dumfries, then, and perhaps letting some squad players leave might be a more sensible option for the Italian giants. Bastoni is a class-act and in reality, harder to replace than Dumfries. Of course, the Dutchman is a good player in his own right, just not in the same class as his Italian teammate.

This is a bit of a bump in the road for Tottenham, and one they probably didn’t foresee.