Spurs in competition with other Premier League clubs for Serie A player
By Tom Vinall
It is has generally been well documented that Spurs have been in the market for a midfielder in recent times, and you would imagine that not much will change on that front.
According to a report from media publication GiveMeSport, Morten Frendrup’s ‘consistent’ displays in midfield for Genoa have caught the eye of a number of clubs.
They suggest that there is a ‘strong chance’ that the midfielder leaves Genoa next summer, with a multiple of clubs trying to secure his services.
Furthermore, it is suggested that a number of Premier League clubs believe he has all of the attributes to play in England, with several clubs having watched him this season – with the player being on Tottenham’s radar for ‘a long time’. Liverpool, Crystal Palace, and Manchester United are some of the other clubs interested.
It is suggested that after the departures of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp leaving the club for Marseille and Leicester City respectively last summer, the club feel they are a bit short in the defensive midfield position.
The reasoning does marry up with what some fans have said. Some feel that the club do need a pure defensive midfielder to complete the midfield puzzle. Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma have both filled in admirably in the most part, but are not out-and-out defensive midfielders, particularly Bentancur.
Whilst Bissouma is a bit more of a natural fit there than Bentancur, he still feels like more of a box to box midfielder. For the Mali national team, he generally plays as a number ten.
Even Pape Matar Sarr, who feels like the clubs best midfielder when it comes to tenacity and general off the ball work – feels like a bit of waste there, with his off ball attributes such as space eating, tackling, and duel winning, generally being more of a use higher up the pitch.
In Serie A so far this season, Frendrup is averaging 2.9 tackles per game, 1.6 interceptions per game, five duels per game, and 4.3 ball recoveries per game. He was rewarded for his bright early season form with his debut for the Denmark senior national team in the nations league last month.
One concern would be that the midfielder has a contract with the Serie A club until 2028, so could be hard to prize out of Italy. The club have done some recent business, with the acquisition of Radu Dragusin in May, as well as the loan of Djed Spence the other way.