Alessandro Bastoni has broken his silence on reports that he could move to either Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United this summer.
Answering a question on whether Bastoni is reluctant to leave Inter in a recent Q&A, football.London's chief Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Alasdair Gold said: "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.
"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."
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Now, according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, as. cited by the Mirror, Tottenham have initiated contact, although United have now entered the race in recent hours.
However, Bastoni isn't paying too much attention to the reports. When speaking after Italy's 2-1 Nations League win over Hungary, he said: "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."
It's a long summer ahead, but Tottenham will undoubtedly be stronger with Bastoni in their side. It remains to be seen if they can get a deal done in the coming weeks and months.
