The reason why Ivan Perisic has not had his Tottenham shirt number announced yet

Ivan Perisic is holding out for one of his two favourite shirt numbers at Tottenham Hotspur this summer after joining, understands.

The 33-year-old Croatia international signed for Spurs on Tuesday on a two-year deal which will begin after his current contract at Inter Milan ends this summer. Antonio Conte managed the Champions League, Serie A and Bundesliga winner in Italy and the experienced wide man was one of the head coach's first requested targets for Tottenham this summer.

Spurs unveiled Perisic to an excited Spurs fanbase but some of the supporters noticed that there was one thing missing from the announcement - the shirt number that the Croatian will wear when he takes to the pitch for the north London outfit.

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The reason for that, understands, is that Perisic is willing to hold out for a couple of months in order to see whether one of his two preferred numbers, which are currently in use, becomes available. Throughout almost all of of his long career, Perisic has worn either the number 14 or 44, aside from his time at Wolfsburg where he was their number nine and his first two years in professional football when he was 22 and 4 at KSV Roeselare and Sochaux-Montbeliard B respectively.

He also wears the number four for Croatia in international matches, although that shirt at Tottenham is held by on-loan defender Cristian Romero, who will sign permanently this summer from Atalanta.

At Spurs, both of the players who wear 14 and 44 are expected to head off next season to get minutes elsewhere. Wales international defender Joe Rodon wears 14 and is set for a move this summer, either on loan or permanently, in order to