Roma star Nicolo Zaniolo gave serious consideration to joining Tottenham Hotspur before an ill-timed injury scuppered his hopes of a move to the Premier League giants, as reported by Forza Roma.
When the European Championships were pushed back by 12 months, the 21-year-old Italy ace must have been breathing a sigh of relief.
Before the pandemic forced the entire footballing calendar to be rescheduled, Zaniolo looked destined to miss out on his first international tournament after suffering a cruciate ligament tear during a January clash with Juventus.
But Roma’s 6ft 3ins play-maker has clearly done something to annoy Lady Luck.
Because, for the second year in a row, Zaniolo is facing a race against time as he looks to recover from a long-term absence to feature for his country at the Euros.
After returning from one ACL blow, Zaniolo suffered exactly the same injury in his other leg in September. The one-time Inter Milan youngster has not played a single second of football in 2020/21.
As a result, a man who appeared to live permanently in the gossip columns not so long ago has been absent from the rumour mill in recent months.
According to ForzaRoma, a string of serious injuries put an end to any hopes he had of sealing a big-money switch to Tottenham.
Interestingly, Alfredo Pedulla reported in 2019 that Spurs were set to pay £43 million for Zaniolo, who his agent likens to North London legend Paul Gascoigne, with Toby Alderweireld heading in the other direction.
Zaniolo was linked frequently with a move to Spurs the following summer too, before the injury curse struck again. Maybe Roma’s Trigoria training base is built on an ancient Indian burial ground or something.
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