Champions League qualification is set to have a double impact on Tottenham ’s transfer market targets this summer.
Not only will there be slightly more in the pot due to the money Spurs could pull in from a decent run in European football’s elite competition, but it could also make it easier to persuade top players to come to White Hart Lane.
It means a nail-biting final day trip to Norwich - where a point will guarantee Antonio Conte’s side a place in the Champions League - with the club’s mid- as well as short-term future resting on the result.
Publications all round the continent suggest that Tottenham’s appearance in the 2019 final will carry little kudos if they are only in the Europa League next season.
Bastoni reunion
Provided those extra funds are there, the Corriere della Sport are adamant that Conte’s first move will be to go back to his old stomping ground again for the missing piece to his defence.
They reckon Conte will “order” Fabio Paratici to make a “major bid” for Alessandro Bastoni, who played a key role in the Tottenham manager’s spell at Inter Milan
After the success of Christian Romero, Bastoni is seen as a younger, left-footed version of the same. Consequently he is expected to cost considerably more than the £42.5m Spurs will pay to make Romero’s signing permanent.
That is a luxury Spurs would only consider with a Champions League campaign to underwrite the expenditure.
Eriksen won over
Christian Eriksen’s remarkable return to Premier League football has prompted quick talk of a possible return to Tottenham, where his creativity remains the missing ingredient in Conte’s set-up.
The Dane left the club in the first place to go to Inter Milan because he felt his talents were not being showcased on a big enough stage all the time Spurs were struggling to get back in those top four places in the Premier League.
However, GiveMeSport are reporting that Erikson would be prepared to come back if he could be offered a Champions League stage on which to hone his fitness and passing ahead of his main priority - the World Cup final in November.
They even go so far as to describe the move as a “no-brainer”.
Forster free
Regardless of what happens on Sunday, Tottenham are keen to sign up an understudy for Hugo Lloris who could begin also help out on the coaching side on blooding a longer-term replacement.
Sam Johnstone of West Brom had initially been top of the queue, but with other clubs swirling around him, Fabio Paratici is now understood by TeamTalk to be sniffing around another bit-part England international, Fraser Forster, who at 34 is available on a free transfer.
And with Arsenal and Spurs both in the market for Juventus misfit Weston McKinnie, the respective position of the two clubs at the final whistle tomorrow could carry on having implications long into the summer.
