Tottenham Hotspur have made a late £22m offer to Bayer Leverkusen for the signing of Ecuador centre-back Piero Hincapie, according to Bild.
Antonio Conte is keen on strengthening his leaky defence that has shipped in 31 goals in the Premier League this season after only 19 matches played so far.
Conte has identified Hincapie as the perfect addition to reinforce his back-line and Bild claims Tottenham have now formalised their interest with a £22m verbal offer to Leverkusen.
The Lilywhites have been linked with a move for several defenders including Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni but to appears they have now set their sights on signing Hincapie before the window closes on Tuesday night.
Hincapie began playing football at the age of seven and has since shot himself to stardom due to his inspired performances for Leverkusen, racking up 21 appearances in all competitions and registering one goal this term.
He was one of the standout players for Ecuador at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, playing every minute at the tournament, however the South American nation exited at the group stage after failing to beat African champions Senegal in their final group game.
Reinforcement
Tottenham have been active in the transfer window having already brought in Arnaut Danjuma from Villarreal and they are still trying to finalise a move for Pedro Porro, but it looks like Conte is hoping to bring in Hincapie as well.
Clement Lenglet has struggled for game time since joining Spurs on a season-long loan deal from Barcelona in the summer with Eric Dier, Davinson Sánchez and youngster Japhet Tanganga all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Conte wants to provide competition to these players and believes Hincapie’s leadership qualities could play a key role in helping the club concede less goals in their fight to make the top four and Champions League qualification.
The Ecuador international is versatile and can a number of positions across the defence including left-back and left-wing back, which means he would give the Tottenham boss options.
We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming hours but Hincapie would be an excellent signing if Tottenham could get a deal done this month.
