Ivan Perisic is trying to convince Josko Gvardiol to join Tottenham Hotspur with the pair working together as part of the Croatia squad at the World Cup, according to a report from Tuttomercatoweb.
Gvardiol is undoubtedly one of the most exciting talents in Europe. The ‘extraordinary‘ 20-year-old has been valued at £70 million with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City monitoring his progress with RB Leipzig.
But Tottenham are also in the mix. Journalist Paul Brown told Give Me Sport that he is ‘definitely’ on Spurs’ wishlist. He did warn however, that many of Europe’s heavyweights are keen on the Croatian.
Perisic trying to convince Gvardiol about Tottenham move
But it would appear that Tottenham may have an ace up their sleeve in the race to sign Gvardiol.
Tuttomercatoweb reports that Antonio Conte’s men have set their sights on signing Gvardiol next summer. And they have Perisic working to convince the youngster that joining the club would be the right move for his career.
Of course, the pair are teammates in Qatar.
Perisic will almost certainly be a player Gvardiol will look up to. Only Luka Modric in the current Croatia squad has more caps than the 118 the 33-year-old has amassed.
He has also won league titles with Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. The latter, of course, came while Conte was at the helm at San Siro.
Gvardiol will have other influential figures around him. So it will be a tough ask for Perisic to win him over on his own.
Tottenham have to step up their performances in the second-half of the season. It sounds as though Gvardiol will have his pick of the teams next summer.
So if Spurs do not qualify for the Champions League and do not contend for honours, Perisic may have too much of an uphill battle on his hands.