Tottenham will not only be pleased to have acquired Radu Dragusin from Genoa so early in the transfer window, but it will be all the sweeter for having beaten Bayern Munich to his signature.
Bayern bought Tottenham’s top scorer and arguably the best player of all time, Harry Kane, for £85 million in August and since then a mini-rivalry has been established, at least between the fans of the two clubs. Many Spurs fans, and perhaps even those in positions of authority at the club, will see this Dragusin deal as a form of revenge.
Ange Postecoglou made it clear this month that he wanted a new centre-back, as the injuries and suspensions of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero exposed Spurs’ lack of strength in that position, and Dragusin was quickly identified as an interesting player.
Personal terms with the 21-year-old were agreed last week, and on Tuesday Spurs agreed a €30m (£26m) deal with Genoa, with Djed Spence moving the other way as a loan player with an option to buy for €10m (£8.6m).
However, Bayern made a competing offer to prevent the transfer. This was a double blow for Spurs as Bayern’s move for Eric Dier was also threatened.
On Wednesday morning it was confirmed that Dragusin had decided to move to north London instead of Munich, and several factors are thought to have influenced his decision.
Romanian journalist Emanuel Rosu, who reported Bayern’s interest in the 21-year-old, told i that Dragusin was “very tempted” by the Bundesliga club’s offer, which included a higher salary, but refused to walk away from the deal with Spurs.
“He gave Tottenham his word,” he said. “He was very keen to go to Tottenham before Bayern came. Bayern came just 48 hours before the transfer was sealed, it was last minute. They started the initial talks, he was very, very tempted to go there. They offered him more money.
“Of course Bayern is one of the giant clubs in Europe and they told him that they see him as an important part of their future. They told him things he wanted to hear. He also gave them positive feedback, so everyone close to him thought he would choose Bayern.”
“The word he gave [Spurs] was very important,” he adds. “He didn’t want to go back on his original word to Tottenham.”
The lure of the Premier League also helped change Dragusin’s decision. According to his Romanian agent Florin Mane, Dragusin “dreamt of playing in the Premier League from a young age”.
It is believed that English football will suit Dragusin because he is strong, combative, fast and good in the air. He has won more aerial duels than any other central defender in Serie A this season and his style of play has been compared to Virgil van Dijk. Dragusin has spoken before about his admiration for the Dutchman.
The possibility of getting more playing time with Spurs was also key. “I think the decisive thing was that he feels he is playing more and is more important now than if he had chosen Bayern,” says Rosu. “He will need time to adapt, but I think he sees that his career is now developing more naturally in north London than in Munich.”
That was important because Dragusin, who joined Juventus from his homeland at the age of 16, had previously struggled to break into the Juventus first team. Incidentally, Fabio Paratici, the former CEO of Spurs FC, had a similar role at Juventus when Dragusin joined in 2018.