Although Tottenham Hotspur are riding high after blanketing Manchester City 2-0 to keep up their spotless record to start the 2025/26 Premier League season, the same positivity isn't being reflected in their summer transfer business.
After star attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze spurned Spurs for a move to bitter rivals Arsenal, Tottenham have been scouring the open market for any signs of quality playmaking to replace an injured James Maddison.
Although the options are limited, Spurs were zeroing in on Como star Nico Paz as their top target at the position. Paz only enhanced his reputation with a goal and an assist in a brilliant Serie A victory for the underdog side, as they managed to upend one of the bigger clubs in the league in Maurizio Sarri's Lazio.
The performance from Paz was followed up with some transfer news from Italian insider Fabrizio Romano, who dropped some unfortunate news for Tottenham fans. Per Fab, Tottenham did actually up their transfer bid to Como for Paz to the 70 million euros they were asking for, but even that fee was no longer enough to persuade the Italian club.
A European giant looms above
Romano states that Como rejected the bid outright, and, furthermore, Paz himself doesn't want a move. The 20-year-old Spaniard, in fact, doesn't want to exit Como at all this season, because his goal is still to return to Real Madrid as a star player, even after the Merengues bagged brilliant teenager Franco Mastantuono this summer to start alongside fellow playmaking phenom Arda Guler.
Real Madrid themselves were always going to match any offer for Paz anyway and do not want to see the player leave Como, as they are still reportedly intent on signing him in the future if he shows he's ready, given they hold a mere 10 million euro buy-back clause over Paz for 2026 in case Spurs or any other club were to get ideas of stealing him away.
Basically, the fact that Tottenham offered 70 million euros and were still rebuffed by all three of Como, Paz, and Madrid entirely enforces the idea that Paz isn't for sale at all. No amount of money, beyond anything truly absurd (which Spurs would not even offer) would coax a transfer. Paz is going to stay put in Como, and if Tottenham identified him as their next top transfer target, then they might as well take him off their list now and stop wasting their time. He isn't leaving.