Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni has sent a cryptic transfer hint amid Chelsea and Spurs transfer talk.
The Italian international, who was recently in London for the Finalissima loss to Argentina and Lionel Messi, has seemingly become a popular option for all Premier League clubs to look at as some of the top six aim to strengthen their backlines. Chelsea are undergoing a major defensive re-shuffle with three defenders expected to follow the already gone Antonio Rudiger out of the exit door whilst Antonio Conte is looking to make his imprint on Spurs with several signings which could improve their backline.
And Bastoni was certainly a primary target for the north Londoners long before Chelsea came into the equation as they look for solutions to their Romelu Lukaku transfer issue. This has been confirmed by football.london who confirmed that Conte had driven the interest in the Italian from the Lilywhites' perspective. "There are two sides to this one in that Alessandro Bastoni is understood to be keen to play under Antonio Conte again at some point, but he is happy at the moment at Inter Milan, and it's worth remembering that he only just turned 23 last month, so he's young in terms of his career and uprooting from Italy. For someone like [Cristian] Romero, he had already uprooted from his homeland," Chief Tottenham writer for football.london Alasdair Gold wrote in his most recent Q&A segment.
READ MORE: Tottenham dealt major transfer blow as Alessandro Bastoni's agent confirms Inter Milan decision
"Spurs' hope is that Bastoni can bring added quality to the left side of Tottenham's back three to complement Romero's strength and quality on the other side. They see him as a potential heir to Jan Vertonghen with a similar skilful style to the Belgian in being a ball-playing defender rather than an aggressive one like Romero. That could potentially make his adaptation to the physical nature of the Premier League slightly more gradual than the Argentine's, and perhaps that is a concern the player also holds."
And despite Spurs' effort to initiate first contacts and their London counterpart's plan to ask for the 23-year-old to be used as a makeweight in the Lukaku swap deal, the player in question who played the full 90 minutes in Italy's most recent Nations League win over Hungary has seemingly shut down any chances of a Premier League move coming to fruition this summer.
"I am an Inter player. I have a two-year contract with Inter. The club has not communicated anything to me. I go on vacation after the national team, and then I start again with Inter," he said in a recent interview.
It isn't just Bastoni who has made his own stance clear but his representatives who have ruled out an Internazionale exit with what they have told and leaked to the Italian media. Something the 23-year-old was keen to double down on with his cryptic but yet telling response.
On an Inter Milan news aggregator channel on Instagram, their number 95 replied under the representatives' comments with two emojis which sum up where his heart currently lies. A statement of intent which will now force both Chelsea and Tottenham to look elsewhere.
Chelsea and Spurs fans - With the Alessandro Bastoni deal seemingly off, would you be happy if one of Milan Skriniar or Pau Torres was to be the one to sign for your respective sides? If not, who else would you want? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
