Tottenham Hotspur may now face competition from London rivals Chelsea and West Ham United in the race for Roma’s Roger Ibanez.
Roma are keen to sell defender Roger Ibanez this summer and have spoken to Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.
That is according to Roma Giallorossa, who claim that Ibanez is a wanted man in England.
It’s stated that Roma general manager Tiago Pinto travelled to London last week to discuss Ibanez’s future.
Pinto is thought to have met with Tottenham, who are ‘above all’ in the race for Ibanez and really want to bring him to London.
There is a big gap in valuation though; Roma want up to €35million (£30million) for Ibanez whereas Tottenham only want to pay around €20million (£17million).
That difference means Roma have started speaking to other clubs about Ibanez, possibly with exchanges in mind.
Roma really want to sign West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca, a Rome native, and the Hammers have been spoken to about taking Ibanez.
Then there is Chelsea, who Pinto spoke to about Ibanez as Roma are keen on Blues midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Tottenham really risk missing out here if they don’t move quickly, with other clubs now involved in the race.
Roger Ibanez may be pushed out of Roma
Jose Mourinho’s men don’t have a huge budget to work with this summer but are keen to strengthen after losing the Europa League final.
Roma have already agreed to sign a new defender though with Evan Ndicka arriving on a free transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Mourinho has been using a back three with the right-footed Ibanez filling in on the left side.
Ndicka will surely take that role now though with Chris Smalling in the middle and Gianluca Mancini on the right.
Ibanez may now find himself out of Roma’s ideal starting lineup and that won’t be good enough for the Brazilian.
Tottenham may be willing to offer Ibanez an escape route but this would feel similar to Cristian Romero.
Right footed, South American, formerly of Atalanta – there are parallels to Tottenham defender Romero and it goes further than that.
Ibanez is prone to a lapse in concentration, few as costly as gifting Lazio a winning goal at the Stadio Olimpico back in November as he tried to dribble out of his own penalty area.
Mourinho moved to back the Brazilian after that moment, calling him ‘untouchable’ in an effort to make sure he got back on track.
The 24-year-old isn’t the most physically imposing defender but he is very quick and appears to be his potential – something Ange Postecoglou may want to tap into at Spurs.
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