Paratici given green light to seal bargain Spurs signing in "outstanding" £25m "rock" - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur have been given a green light to sign Weston McKennie this summer, though he’ll come at a cost…

Earlier in the week, the Daily Mail revealed that sporting director Fabio Paratici was interested in a move for the Juventus midfielder, and it’s not the first time that the American has been linked either.

Now, it appears as if the Serie A giants are open to selling him.

According to 90min, Juventus will sell the 23-year-old if an offer of €30m (£25m) comes in, even despite the recent injury blow to new signing Paul Pogba.

The Italian side are keen on Chelsea‘s Jorginho, so that may well explain their stance, to some extent.

Antonio Conte’s midfield engine room is stacked right now, with some key names needing to be offloaded, namely Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso.

But their likely departures would surely free up some space in the squad and the Italian head coach will need all the strength in depth possible to contend across all competitions this season, seeing as Spurs are back in the Champions League.

McKennie would be a solid addition to his ranks.

The £22.5m-rated maestro was once lauded as a “rock” by former manager Andrea Pirlo. He certainly knows a thing or two about that role in the engine room.

Meanwhile, another former coach in David Wagner has also waxed lyrical about the American’s ability, as he said:

“He’s an outstanding talent. In the No.6 or No.8 position he has the mentality, a real working mentality that you need. And he’s brave on the ball as well. He can be one of the best midfielders in the Bundesliga.”

Not only is he astute defensively, as Pirlo’s words suggest, but the USMNT international is capable of excelling further forward – he ranks inside the top 2% of his positional peers