Tottenham and Chelsea have both already been busy during the summer window, with Antonio Conte welcoming six new players and Thomas Tuchel's side signing five. Both have seen incomings and outgoings, as the two clubs attempt to strengthen their squads as much as possible, for a hopefully successful season.
The Lilywhites finished just three points behind third place Chelsea last season and are looking to climb the table, during the 2022/23 campaign. Meanwhile the Blues are going through a transition, with new owners and a number of players leaving.
One player both have had their eye on, is Peterborough's Ronnie Edwards. The 19-year-old has been impressing for club and country, making 36 Championship appearances for his side last season and featuring in the winning England U19 Euros squad this summer.
READ MORE: Who is Ronnie Edwards? Fabio Paratici target that could hand Antonio Conte major boost
Posh have been relegated to League One, but have won their first two games, against Cheltenham and Morecambe. In April, football.london reported on Tottenham's interest in the defender and Peterborough's director of football Barry Fry, reiterated the interest.
"Spurs have been watching him for a long time, but so have other clubs. There is a big German club showing interest which is no real surprise as they love to take young English players and develop them," he explained.
The Peterborough Telegraph have reported this week that there is now also interest from Chelsea for Edwards and Fry gave details on this. "I’ve had conversations with people at Chelsea who are in the know and who would be involved in any decision-making," the director of football admitted.
"They came to watch Lucas [Bergstrom], but they were taken by Ronnie. They haven’t made a bid yet, but there are three weeks until the transfer window closes. They certainly like him.
"Virtually the entire Premier League know about Ronnie and it’s interesting to see members of his England Under 19 team attracting attention now. I have had big clubs asking to be kept informed if anyone does bid for Ronnie," Fry added.
The 77-year-old also gave an update on the centre-back's transfer status. "Our position on Ronnie remains the same," he said. "It’s going to have to be a big bid to get him and we would try and make sure he was sent straight back to us.
"We don’t want to break up what I believe is the strongest squad in terms of depth in my 26 years at the club. We’ve been turning bids down right, left and centre all summer."
Sending a player back to their former club once they sign for Tottenham is something Fabio Paratici did last year. Pape Matar Sarr signed for Spurs last summer, but spent a final season with Metz, before arriving at N17 a few months ago.
This could be something the Lilywhites could see as an option for Edwards, to allow him to continue his development with Peterborough. Tottenham have welcomed Djed Spence during this window, a young player with bags of potential and the 19-year-old could be another signing for the future.
With Joe Rodon's loan move and Japhet Tanganga being linked with a move away, Spurs could be on the lookout for another centre-back, in the final few weeks of the window. However it will depend if they want to sign someone who they won't have as an option this season and what this 'big bid' will have to be.
If Paratici does target Edwards closely, it sounds like he will have competition from Chelsea and probably a number of other Premier League clubs. However if Spurs don't make an offer for the youngster this summer and he does well, his market value will shoot up and the competition will be even more fierce...so there's a big decision to make.
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