This week, Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic is set to have a medical at Tottenham Hotspur and is expected to join the Premier League club on a two-year deal.
The 33-year-old’s contract with Inter expires at the end of June.
Croatia international Perisic worked with Spurs boss Antonio Conte when the latter guided Inter to the Serie A title in the 2020-21 campaign.
Perisic played 49 times and scored ten goals this season in all competitions as Inter won the Coppa Italia.
He looks set to be Tottenham’s second free transfer of the summer, with Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster also expected to join the north London club.
Perisic is putting pen to paper on a two-year contract at Tottenham, bringing him close to 100,000 pounds a week in wages.
The winger has long wanted to move to the Premier League, but despite substantial interest, he continued to ply his trade in Italy’s Serie A since 2015.
Perisic helped Inter to clinch the Serie A title in the 2020/21 campaign when he played under current Tottenham boss Antonio Conte.
Now the Croatian will reunite with Conte at Tottenham and look to help the north London side bridge the gap to the top three following their fourth-place finish.
The Croatia international, who has 113 caps for his country and scored in the 2018 World Cup final, has been at Inter since 2015. He won Serie A last season under Tottenham head coach Conte after spending the 2019-20 season on loan at Bayern Munich, where he lifted the Champions League.
Inter offered Perisic a contract extension, and Juventus were also in lengthy negotiations. But Conte’s relationship with the Croatia international is thought to be a decisive factor in pulling off a deal, which is something of a coup for Spurs.
Conte is demanding as many as six summer signings and is set to stay at the club following constructive talks with chairman Daniel Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici.
Tottenham announced a 150 million pounds cash injection from majority shareholders last week, with the club prepared to back Conte in his efforts to turn Spurs into Premier League title contenders.
Former Manchester United player Gary Neville praised Antonio Conte for his brilliant season. He said: “He’s done a brilliant job at Tottenham, he’s been assisted by the capitulation of Manchester United and the fall of Arsenal, but he’s done a good job and was always going to. I’m very clear that he isn’t the right manager for Manchester United, but you can say someone’s not the right manager for your club, but he’s still a great manager.
“The others have got Tuchel, Conte, Klopp and Guardiola – they’re animals, they win trophies all the time. They stand on the touchline and can almost eat you alive with their presence and aura. The rest have a long way to go.”