Tottenham target outshines Lionel Messi just days after reported Spurs bid

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Sebastian Caceres boosted his growing reputation with a superb performance to nullify Lionel Messi days after Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur reportedly submitted a bid for the Uruguay international. 

Knowing how to stop the eight-time Ballon D’Or in his tracks and actually doing so are, of course, two very different things. Fortunately, Marcelo Bielsa – the veteran Uruguay boss drawing up a typically detailed tactical blueprint to render Lionel Messi anonymous in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier – had the ideal defender to make his plans a reality. 

According to reporter Fernando Esquivel, writing on X, Tottenham Hotspur saw an opening bid worth around £3 million rejected by Club America for Sebastian Caceres earlier this month. The Liga MX outfit are holding out for around £7 million. But, on last night’s evidence, Spurs should have few reservations about doubling their offer. 

Tottenham Hotspur like Sebastian Caceres

“(Bielsa) told us not to be afraid to follow him (Messi). That whoever was closest would make him uncomfortable,” Caceres tells ESPN, the tough-tackling 24-year-old often vacating his centre-back position to follow Messi around the pitch like a particularly pesky shadow. 

“In the first-half, Manu Ugarte did it. But when he got yellow card, we changed and, in the second-half, it was my turn to mark him. If he went too far from my zone I let him, but the priority was to follow him without fear.

“(Bielsa’s idea was) that there would be no free player left and, if Messi moved too far from the area, I would leave him and another teammate would take him.” 

Uruguay defeat Lionel Messi’s Argentina

With Messi largely anonymous as Uruguay triumphed 2-0 away at the World champions – only two months after beating Brazil by the same scoreline – another commanding Caceres performance gave another boost to his burgeoning reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Club America, Esquivel adds, could be willing to accept just £7 million as Caceres’ contract expires in just 12 months’ time. Tottenham’s interest, meanwhile, comes at a time in which the absences of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have shone a harsh light on the lack of defensive depth available to Ange Postecoglou.