Spurs can sign dream Bastoni alternative in £67.5m "oil tanker" who "can't be stopped" - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur have enjoyed a busy summer transfer window as they have moved to strengthen Antonio Conte’s team ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

Fabio Paratici has brought in Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster, Richarlison and Yves Bissouma on permanent deals so far, whilst he is also on the verge of completing a swoop for Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence.

One player who does not appear to be joining the club this summer, however, is Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni. The Italian international looks set to remain with the Serie A giants, despite interest from the Premier League side.

It has previously been reported that Spurs have looked at Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt as a potential target in their pursuit of a left-footed centre-back.

Bayern Munich have held talks over a deal for the £67.5m machine and Paratici must now hijack the move in order to land a dream alternative to Bastoni.

In the Serie A last term, de Ligt averaged an excellent SofaScore of 7.07 across 31 outings. He won 62% of his individual duels and made 3.1 clearances per match as he helped the Old Lady to keep 11 clean sheets in the Italian top-flight.

Bastoni, meanwhile, averaged a score of 7.10 and won 60% of his battles. The 23-year-old’s team kept eight shutouts as he made 1.8 clearances per game, which suggests that the Juventus man performed to a similar level throughout the 2021/22 campaign.

The late Mino Raiola previously hailed the Dutch international, saying: “Matthijs is becoming like the Night’s Watch, you can see him developing before your eyes. Matthijs is like an oil tanker, you can’t expect him to suddenly turn 90 degrees. He goes steadily. But, once he’s on course, he can’t be stopped.”

At the age of 22, the enforcer still has plenty of time left on