Tottenham are eyeing a double raid on Chelsea in the next 24 hours.
Chelsea v Juventus - Pre-Season Friendly
Tottenham are interested in a late deal for Mykhaylo Mudryk (Image: Getty)
Tottenham are reportedly closing in on the signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk on loan from rivals Chelsea as they seek to sign a forward late in the window. Spurs had hoped to bring in Iliman Ndiaye from Everton, with Richarlison going the other way, but Manchester City are now leading the race for the Senegalese attacker. That's after City saw a bid rejected for Liverpool's Cody Gakpo earlier today. Gakpo had also been a target for Spurs but the Dutchman seems set to remain at Anfield.
As a result, Spurs have pivoted to Chelsea wideman Mudryk, who is free to play again after a lengthy drugs suspension. Roberto De Zerbi previously worked with the Ukrainian at Shakhtar Donetsk and rates the winger highly. It has been claimed that the Italian coach personally requested the signing of his former player. And according to talkSPORT, Mudryk has told Chelsea he wants to move to their London rivals. He has already agreed to the move and talks between the two clubs are believed to be at an advanced stage.
Man Utd tease two imminent transfers as left-back taken out of squad
The north Londoners are also in discussions to sign defender Tosin Adarabioyo from the Blues. But Premier League rules dictate that only one of Mudryk and Adarabioyo can be signed on loan. Clubs cannot do two loan deals with the same club.
It has already been a hectic summer for Spurs, who have spent over £300million on new signings. De Zerbi has welcomed eight new players to his squad, including the recent double signing of Man City duo Savinho and Omar Marmoush.
As well as those two, Spurs spent £100m on Sandro Tonali, £85m on Mateus Fernandes and £52m on Jan Paul van Hecke while landing Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on free transfers.
Now, Spurs want to bring Mudryk to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium despite his lack of first-team minutes in the last 18 months. The player was banned by the FA between December 2024 and July for violating anti-doping rules.
His game time is set to be limited at Chelsea under Xabi Alonso, who have no European football this season. And Leeds United had shown strong interest in signing the Ukraine international, but the Whites may miss out to Spurs in the final 24 hours of the window.
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Chelsea v Juventus - Pre-Season Friendly
Tottenham want to do an initial loan deal for Mykhaylo Mudryk (Image: Getty)
Mudryk has put discussions about a potential move to Elland Road on hold as he waits for a resolution of club-to-club talks between Chelsea and Spurs.
Leeds had a loan bid rejected because the Londoners wanted a larger fee and also for the Yorkshire club to agree to pay a higher proportion of the player's wages.
Discussing Mudryk's future at Stamford Bridge last week, Blues boss Alonso said: "We will see, we still have time to decide, and we don't have to rush on many decisions and at the right time we will take them, at the moment not yet."
While De Zerbi said of Spurs' summer before their defeat at home to Newcastle: "Savio is 'bomba'. All players we brought, I think are 'bomba.' In my vocabulary 'bomba' is a great player.
"I'm very happy. We brought all very good players. Especially because they wanted to come. I want players proud and happy to stay here. To play football now you need big motivation, big ambitions. Without that part it's impossible to make results.
"At the moment we have a great squad, a great team. Maybe we have to close with another player but we have to sell a couple of players. But we can consider us very, very happy."