'Maybe he's the one': Gold claims Spurs have set their sights on 'Koulibaly-esque' 6ft 2in defender

By Giuseppe Labellarte

Tottenham Hotspur have hit the ground running in the summer transfer market.

They’ve already got three signings over the line – Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, and Yves Bissouma.

In addition, Spurs are still in talks over bringing Djed Spence to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Antonio Conte is reportedly also trying to bring at least one new centre-back to Tottenham.

Spurs have been linked with a number of centre-halves in recent months.

Earlier this month, football.london published an in-depth article about Tottenham’s transfer plans.

Alasdair Gold named the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Pau Torres, Marc Guehi, Gleison Bremer and Clement Lenglet as targets at centre-back.

All those are fairly established players, but Gold also named one who’s not too well known – Dynamo Kyiv’s Ilya Zabarnyi.

On Tuesday, the football.london Spurs correspondent posted his latest club update video on YouTube.

And on the subject of potential surprise targets, Gold named Zabarnyi and spoke about the 19-year-old.

“The young Ukrainian lad, I would keep a little eye on him, Zabarnyi,” said Gold.

“Because I do wonder, even if it’s not Spurs, whether someone suddenly comes in for him.

“But I do know that Spurs are having a really good look at him as a potential signing, so maybe he’s the one.

“I guess if that was a surprise one, maybe that would be one.”

Who is reported Tottenham target Ilya Zabarnyi?

Zabarnyi has come through the ranks at Dinamo Kyiv and has also won 20 caps for Ukraine.

He has made 59 appearances for his club and has three trophies to his name.

Zabarnyi won the Ukrainian double – league title and cup – with Dinamo in 2020-21, as well as the Ukrainian Supercup.

The 6ft 2in talent penned a new deal with his club in October last year.

However, it remains unclear what will happen next season for Ukrainian football clubs and the players on their books.

In wake of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which began in February, the Ukrainian Premier League was suspended and then terminated.

Zabarnyi, a right-footer, can play on either side of the defence.

As per Goal.com in 2021, local scout Alex Velikikh compared him to Napoli and Senegal star Kalidou Koulibaly.

Zabarnyi is ‘tall, strong in the air, physically imposing and good reader of the game’.

He dreams of playing alongside his idol Virgil van Dijk, and hopes to emulate the Liverpool star’s game.