Conte relents as price drop sees Serie A giants head queue for Tottenham star
Reports in Italy claim Tottenham are open to selling Steven Bergwijn in the summer and are willing to settle for less than their original asking price.
The 24-year-old has been with Spurs since January 2020 when they paid PSV £26.7m for his signature. The winger made eight starts among 13 Premier League appearances during the Covid-hit 2019-2020 campaign. However, he failed to push on during the next season and was handed just 13 league starts and 21 outings.
It has been a similar story in 2021-2022. The Netherlands international has struggled with a series of niggling injuries.
And he has only started four top-flight matches among 12 outings for the north Londoners. The Amsterdam-born ace has struggled to hit the expected heights at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
He was linked with a move back to Ajax in January. However, the Dutch giants were unable to afford Spurs’ asking price, according to the club’s director of football Marc Overmars.
“It is no secret that we have been busy getting Steven Bergwijn to Ajax, for now and for the future,” he told Ajax’s official website earlier this month.
“However, you also have to remain realistic. Every club has had two tough years. We as management found it in this uncertain time to properly deploy the entire financial package.”
However, Ajax were not the only club with eyes on the wide man, with AC Milan also linked. Reports last week claimed that the Serie A leaders were considering Bergwijn for their summer recruitment.
Spurs chief Antonio Conte blocked his winter exit, according to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano. But it appears as though his stance has softened towards a summer exit.
Realistic price to aid Bergwijn departure
It remains to be seen if Ajax go back in for the man with 16 international caps. Even with the player’s value dropping, they might still be short of the funds to do a deal.
According to Gazzetta Dello Sport, Conte no longer considers the player to be ‘non-transferable’. And Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) have followed up on the story by suggesting his latest valuation.
They state that the Premier League club wanted €25m for Bergwijn in the winter window. However, they are ‘ready to settle’ for between €18m and €20m when the window opens in June.
The same report claims Bergwijn is ‘completely lost’, with Dejan Kulusevski’s arrival the final nail in his Spurs coffin.
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