Big club’s “amazing” and speedy target is leaning towards joining Tottenham – report

Juventus transfer target Franck Kessie is currently “leaning towards” joining Tottenham Hotspur this summer, according to recent reports.

Who will Spurs sign this summer?

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou has been backed with three major signings so far as we enter the latter phase of this transfer window, with August coming as their last chance to strengthen.

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, midfielder James Maddison and winger Manor Solomon have arrived in the last month – coming after both Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski made their Tottenham loan deals permanent.

The agenda for Postecoglou and chairman Daniel Levy is, now, to sign multiple senior centre-backs to reinforce a fragile defence which conceded 63 league goals last season.

Tottenham, as per rumours in the last fortnight, could also sign a star midfielder to replace Denmark international Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – who has recently been in talks to join Atletico Madrid.

The La Liga side have reportedly seen a £16 million bid rejected for Hojbjerg, but that doesn’t mean the deal is off, as The Times (SB Nation) report there is still confidence a deal will be reached eventually.

A new midfielder could therefore be a priority for Postecoglou, as they will be in need of a capable stand-in for Hojbjerg should he depart for Spain.

Kessie is one of the names linked with a move to north London, alongside the likes of Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher, with La Gazzetta dello Sport sharing an update on the former.

Page nine of the newpaper (via Football Italia) say the Ivory Coast international is “currently leaning towards a move” to Tottenham.

This is bad news for fellow interested side Juve, who have been in close contact to try and seal a move for the Barca star. The Serie A giants want Kessie on loan with an option to buy, a deal which Xavi’s side are open to themselves, and could well be encouraging financially from a Spurs perspective.

How good is Franck Kessie?

Over the 2020/2021 season, Kessie starred for ex-club AC Milan, scoring 13 goals and assisting four others in 36 Italian top flight starts for the Rossoneri (WhoScored).

These flashes of form potentially resulted in Barca snapping up the African last summer, but he’s found consistent game time difficult to come by since, having started just seven league games last season (WhoScored).

That being said, he has displayed his quality on occasion, with Xavi praising his performance after a 1-0 victory against Villarreal in February.

“Kessie was great today,” explained the Spain footballing legend.

“He recovered many balls, distributed well… Everything for the team. He is very solid.”

Former Spurs keeper Paul Robinson, commenting on Tottenham’s previous links to Kessie, also said he would’ve fit the bill for ex-boss Antonio Conte as a “quick” and “amazing” player.

“Kessie would fit the bill,” said Robinson to Football Insider.

“He is strong, quick and effective at both ends of the pitch. He ticks a lot of boxes.

“There is no doubting that he is an amazing player. The question is, would he come in and command a starting spot? Hojbjerg and Bentancur have done extremely well. [Yves] Bissouma has struggled to get a look in at times.

“Would Kessie upset that midfield? Maybe but I don’t think it’s a certainty. It’s really important that Spurs sign better than what they already have