Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin endured a ‘stop-start’ campaign under Ange Postecoglou this season. The centre-back did not make the most of the chances he got in the starting eleven due to the injury crisis at the club. However, it is fair to say that at one point, the entire first-choice backline was out through injury and that did not help the Romanian’s case in impressing Big Ange.
The 23-year-old has never quite managed to get going at N17 and fans have also been frustrated with the lack of consistent performances from the centre-back. As per Sofascore, Dragusin managed to rack up 28 appearances this season for the Lilywhites. The ex-Genoa defender played 2,179 minutes in all competitions, and appeared 16 times in the Premier League.
Most of these appearances were possible due to the long-term injuries Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven suffered. But it is important to note that the Romania international played a crucial part in helping Spurs win the Europa League this season, before rupturing his ACL during the last stretch of the campaign.
It was reported earlier this week that Inter were interested in signing Radu Dragusin from Tottenham in the summer. The aforementioned report also suggested that the Italian giants were willing to do a swap deal involving the Romanian and Yann Bisseck in order to get the deal done before the Club World Cup.
However, it looks like the deal will not go through after Dragusin’s agent Florin Manea dismissed any chances of moving clubs for next season. Speaking to Stile TV (via Napoli Magazine), Manea said,
“He’ll be back playing in August. I think he’ll stay at Tottenham, there were a few requests before the injury, but the club didn’t sell him, he didn’t want to change teams, so everything has remained the same. Then there are a lot of rumours, especially with Chivu’s arrival at Inter, because we are very good friends with Chivu, but they’re just speculations. Our minds are focused on recovery: the boy wants to get back to playing as soon as possible and be stronger than before.”
Florin Manea insisted that Radu Dragusin would stay at Tottenham for next season amid transfer links to Inter. The Romania international’s agent added that Inter’s new manager Cristian Chivu is a good friend of Dragusin, but the links to the Serie A giants are just speculations. Manea added that the Spurs defender is aiming to recover quickly from his ACL injury and fight for his place in North London.
This will be good news for the Lilywhites as they do not have to spend funds on an extra player now. Spurs still need to bring in a new centre-back though, and fans will hope that Daniel Levy finds a way to bolster the defence before the start of next season. The North London club needs to build on the Europa League success and close the gap on its rivals next year after ending the current season on a high.
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