Which Player Are Tottenham Trying To Sign From AS Roma?

With the Tottenham Technical Director, Franco Baldini, having held a similar role as Director of Football at AS Rome before his summer move to White Hart Lane, it’s understandable that there has been speculation linking Spurs with players from the Italian club. The past week, Spurs have been linked with three players from Roma but which of the players are Tottenham interested in signing?

Tottenham to raid AS Roma? (soccerwallpaper.org)

It depends on which newspaper or media source you read. Early last week with Andre Villas-Boas confirming that more transfer deals would be done before the end of the transfer window, there were suggestions that Tottenham were interested in Roma’s 21-year-old Argentine striker, Erik Lamela and their Bosnian midfield player Miralem Pjanic.

Erik Lamela

According to the Daily Mail, to sign Lamela, Tottenham would have to set another new transfer record as Roma are looking for £30m for the player who scored 15 goals in 33 appearances last season. Spurs have twice broken their previous transfer record this summer – first signing Paulinho from Corinthians for £17m and then again when completing the deal for Roberto Soldado from Valencia two weeks ago. Lamela is a versatile striker who can fill a number of forward positions and would be ideally suited to the 4 – 3 – 3 formation Villas-Boas is looking for Spurs to implement this season. It is a system which AVB worked successfully in his season at Porto with all three forward players capable of providing goals and backed by a powerful midfield.

Lamela joined Roma in the summer of 2011 from River Plate. He has made 66 appearances for Roma and scored 21 goals with 12 assists. He has won three international caps for Argentina, making his debut in 2011 at the age of 19 years. He also played in the 2011 Under-20 World Cup scoring 3 goals in 4 appearances for his country.

Miralem Pjanic

Baldini is using his knowledge of the Roma players and his contacts at the club to make enquiries about the creative midfield player. Pjanic is a player who has been linked previously with Tottenham so they are aware of his capabilities. The 23-year-old would cost around £15m according to a report in the Mirror. Pjanic has been with Roma for two seasons, signing from Lyon in 2011. He had joined the Metz youth team as a 14-year-old and after one season in the league team, moved on to Lyon where he spent the next three years.

Last season, Pjanic made 29 appearances for Roma with 4 goals and 8 assists. He is an attacking midfield player and has won 41 international caps for Bosnia, scoring 8 goals with 14 assists. Pjanic would be the type of midfield player to replace Luka Modric, a position Spurs haven’t filled adequately in the past twelve months.

Pablo Osvaldo

On Friday, the Sun confidently predicted that Spurs would announce the signing of Osvaldo from Roma by the end of the day. That hasn’t happened but is he Tottenham’s target rather than the younger but more expensive Lamela. Wolfsburg and Southampton are reported to be interested in the striker but he prefers to join Tottenham. The Italian international, born in Argentina, is 27 years of age and has made 12 appearances for Italy, scoring three goals. He has been with Roma since 2011 with 28 goals in 57 appearances. Prior to that he had two season with Espanyol and two with Bologna.

Today’s Express reports that according to sources in Italy, Southampton have had a bid of £15m accepted by Roma. Benfica are also thought to be interested with the Express supporting the view that Spurs are trying to negotiate a deal for Osvaldo’s team mate Lamela.

Decision Time

As is always the case in the final weeks of the transfer window, rumours circulate with even greater speed as clubs try to complete deals before the final deadline. Buying clubs tend to have interest and discussions on a number of players to cover the possibility that if agreement can not be reached on their top target, they have a fall-back plan.

Which player or players would be best suited to Tottenham – Erik Lamela and Miralem Pjanic could be very exciting and useful signings but the thought I have about this situation is, what is the likelihood of Roma selling two top players in the final weeks of the transfer window with little opportunity to replace them? Their financial position requires them to sell players but what would their feelings be on Baldini returning to take away two of their players to his new club?

Contrasting views are aired on the purpose of these discussions/negotiations. One suggestion is that they are taking place in case Gareth Bale leaves for Real Madrid but other sources suggest they are being carried out to show Bale that Tottenham has ambition and the players are being signed to play alongside him with his presence in the team at White Hart Lane attracting these top class players to the club.