Destiny Udogie's agent has claimed that the player's move to Tottenham Hotspur is "something beautiful" and that the 20-year-old is "happy to go there". Making a big impression in Serie A, a number of Europe's top clubs were interested in signing the left-sided player last summer before Spurs won the race for his signature.
Joining the north London club for an initial £15m, with the fee potentially rising to £18m including add-ons, Udogie returned to Udinese on loan for the season as part of the agreement. The Italy under-21 international once again caught the eye in his home country last term, contributing three goals and four assists in his 34 games for the Bianconeri.
Now set to take part in the European Under-21 Championship that gets underway on Tuesday evening, it won't be long at all before Udogie is alongside his Tottenham teammates for the first time at Hotspur Way as they prepare for the new campaign. Speaking about his transfer to Tottenham, the player's agent, Stefano Antonelli, told Radio CRC that a move to England wasn't the initial aim.
“Before deciding to go and accept Tottenham’s offer in August last year, we visited the tables of Italian football teams many times because we wanted to stay here," explained Antonelli, as reported by Sport Witness. "Everyone liked him, but negotiating from an economic point of view has always been difficult.
“Going to Tottenham is something beautiful and he is happy to go there. Remaining in Italy, however, was the first goal.”
Brought to the club to operate as a left wing-back in Antonio Conte's system, the appointment of Ange Postecoglou as head coach will see Tottenham play in a 4-3-3 setup next term. Udogie will now have to adapt to playing as a left-back in the Australian's formation, although he will still push forward regularly as Postecoglou likes to play with inverted full-backs.
Udogie will have plenty of competition for a starting spot as Ben Davies and Ryan Sessegnon will also be fighting it out to start. Once pre-season is done and dusted, Udogie could make his senior Tottenham debut on the opening weekend of the season when the Lilywhites travel across the capital to take on Brentford on Sunday, August 13.
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