Tottenham Allegedly Finalize Antonio Sanabria Deal

After being recently linked to Antonio Sanabria, it appears that Tottenham Hotspur have signed the Paraguayan international who was on loan with Sporting Gijón last season from Roma.

According to two Italian news outlets, Tottenham have allegedly agreed to terms with Roma striker Antonio Sanabria after being linked with the 20-year-old Paraguayan international. This deal isn’t official yet, as news hasn’t exactly picked up steam in the English press yet so this transfer could be entirely false.

UPDATE: The Daily Mail has reported that Tottenham have begun talks with Roma for Antonio Sanabria. The Serie A club have apparently rejected Rubin Kazin’s £11 million offer.

But for fun, let’s go and read what has been written and whether any of this actually makes sense — which right now it does and doesn’t at the same time (more on this a bit later).

Per La Gazetta dello Sport, at the very bottom of the article, it appears that Tottenham and Roma have agreed on a €15 million (£11.5 million) deal that would see Spurs sign the 20-year-old striker who is currently on international duty with Paraguay for the Copa América Centenario.

But Paraguay have been eliminated from that tournament for quite some time now, so technically speaking Sanabria can join his current club, Roma, or Spurs.

Anyway, here’s what was said about the deal being agreed upon:

Heavily edited for clarity and brevity. The original quote is above in the link.

"“Tottenham have already reached an agreement with Antonio Sanabria who was on loan from Roma at Sporting Gijón. I Giallorossi were looking to sell the Paraguayan striker and had asked for €15 million, a fee that Russian club, Rubin Kazan, were willing to spend a few days ago before Spurs swooped in to seal the deal.”"

Now compare La Gazetta dello Sport’s article with that of Gazetta World’s, which is the American/English version. Meaning it’s already translated from the get-go. Moving on, here’s the reason why Roma manager, Luciano Spalletti and sporting director, Walter Sabatini, made the decision to “sell” the young striker.

"“The Giallorossi are likely to use the money from the youngster’s sale to fund moves for Fiorentina midfielder Milan Badelj and a new right-back, with Pablo Zabaleta and Mattia De Sciglio their prime targets.”"

Whether any of these two Italian articles are legit is hard to figure out, but the fact that nothing official has been said in general means that no deal has actually happened.

After scoring 11 goals in 29 La Liga appearances last season while on loan with Sporting Gijón, it’s not surprising that the Paraguayan striker has caught the eyes of Mauricio Pochettino. And based on the highlight video above, he clearly has talent and could be an understudy to Harry Kane.

But, remember how it was mentioned at the top, that this move didn’t make sense? Well yesterday, the Daily Express (which HotspurHQ covered) stated that Luciano Spalletti would only sell Antonio Sanabria to Tottenham so long as Christian Eriksen would go the other way after Juventus activated Miralem Pjanić’s release clause.

Therefore this is all misleading for the time being. What is true though, is that Mauricio Pochettino needs to sign strikers for next season. That’s something the Argentine manager is hoping to address this summer.

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At 20 years old, Sanabria fits the mold of a young striker who has plenty of talent and potential to take that next step forward and become a very good center-forward for club and country.

Having Mauricio Pochettino as his manager would do wonders and learning from Harry Kane will also benefit the Paraguayan international too.

Whether £11.5 million is the actual price that Roma are seeking, Tottenham have been looking for players to sign around that range with AZ Alkmaar’s Vincent Janssen said to be going for £12 million and Southampton agreeing to a deal with Spurs for Victor Wanyama between £11-12 million.

So at the very least, there’s a common theme with how Spurs are looking for reinforcements who fall under the £15 million threshold like last season, minus Son Heung-Min of course.

The only player who currently eclipses that mark by a long shot — due in large part to Olympique Marseille’s current financial situations — would be Michy Batshuayi, who is being valued at £30.7 million (€40 million).

Nearly double of what Tottenham are willing to pay for a striker who will most likely split time with Kane when it’s all said and done.

Next: Victor Wanyama Completes Tottenham Medical

Signing Antonio Sanabria won’t be the answer at the striker position for Spurs. But having someone who is young and most likely hungry to challenge himself in a competitive Premier League and experience Champions League football, will only help Tottenham next season when Mauricio Pochettino has to rotate his squad.

There’s at least interest from Pochettino — seeing as how he’s looking at any and all center-forwards. But a deal is far from complete like La Gazetta dello Sport and Gazetta World have made it out to be.