Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners in recent days.
Spurs have ‘knocked on the door’ of the Italian club about the Netherlands international midfielder, according to Tuttosport.
However, Tottenham are not alone in their pursuit of Koopmeiners. The report claims Manchester United are also eyeing Koopmeiners.
Should Spurs wish to make a move for the 25-year-old, they’d reportedly be looking at a starting price of around €60million, or £51million.
Tottenham could do with bolstering their midfield ranks in the summer and potentially bring in someone to anchor the midfield alongside Yves Bissouma.
And considering Spurs have struck gold in the Italian market multiple times since the start of the decade, Koopmeiners certainly looks like a good option.
But what could Tottenham expect from the Atalanta and Oranje midfielder? Let’s take a look.
Tottenham target Teun Koopmeiners – factfile
Koopmeiners has gone from strength to strength since coming through the ranks at AZ and becoming a big player for them, earning himself a move to Atalanta in 2021.
Back in 2020, Breaking the Lines discussed Koopmeiners’ style of play in detail, highlighting why he was so important to AZ, his club at the time.
“Koopmeiners is the orchestrator of AZ’s build-up play, playing on the left side of the midfield pivot in (Arne) Slot’s 4-2-3-1, whilst occasionally deputising in central defence,” they wrote.
“(He) has a sublime ability on the ball and his distribution allows AZ to work their way out of the counter-press.
“When he isn’t playing in defence, Koopmeiners typically slots between the centre-backs or slightly ahead of them during the build-up, allowing AZ to maneuvre the opponent’s pressing and progress the ball further forward.
“The club captain is proficient at breaking the lines with pinpoint long balls, and he’s also capable of dribbling out of pressure and advancing the ball into midfield.”
Tottenham target Teun Koopmeiners is a ‘Toni Kroos’ type player
Koopmeiners has been delivering more of the same for Atalanta, and has clocked up 104 appearances, 21 goals and 12 assists for the Bergamo club. He also has 20 Netherlands caps to his name.
Atalanta hero Domenico Progna has described the reported Tottenham target as “extraordinary“, while Koopmeiners’ agent Bert Baving has likened him to Toni Kroos.
He told FC Inter News: “It’s always difficult to make comparisons but he’s a Toni Kroos, Jorginho, (Nemanja) Matic or (Manuel) Locatelli type, only that Teun will score more goals than any of these players.”
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