Tottenham Hotspur have been connected with Teun Koopmeiners of Atalanta in recent days.
Spurs have ‘knocked on the door’ of the Italian club about the Netherlands international midfielder, according to Tuttosport.
Tottenham is not alone in their chase of Koopmeiners. According to the source, Manchester United is also looking at Koopmeiners.
If Spurs do make a bid for the 25-year-old, they are expected to pay roughly €60 million, or £51 million.
Tottenham could do with boosting their midfield ranks this summer, possibly bringing in someone to anchor the midfield with Yves Bissouma.
And, given Spurs’ success in the Italian market since the beginning of the decade, Koopmeiners appears to be an attractive alternative.
But what can Tottenham expect from the Atalanta and Oranje midfielder? Let’s have a look.
Tottenham targets Teun Koopmeiners – factfile
Koopmeiners has grown from strength to strength since rising through the ranks at AZ and became a key player for them, earning a transfer to Atalanta in 2021.
Back in 2020, Breaking the Lines went over Koopmeiners’ playing style in depth, outlining why he was so crucial to AZ, his current team.
“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 stated in their article.
“(He) has sublime ball control, and his distribution enables AZ to work their way out of the counter-press.”
“When he isn’t playing defense, Koopmeiners usually slots between the centre-backs or slightly forward of them during the build-up, allowing AZ to exploit the opponent’s pressing and advance the ball farther 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’s objective Teun Koopmeiners is a ‘Toni Kroos’ type player.
Koopmeiners has continued to deliver for Atalanta, making 104 appearances, scoring 21 goals and assisting 12 times. In addition, he has 20 caps for the Netherlands.
The alleged Tottenham target has been regarded as “extraordinary” by Atalanta hero Domenico Progna, while Koopmeiners’ agent Bert Baving has compared him to Toni Kroos.
He said in an interview: “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.”
