Tottenham Hotspur's hastened search for a new centre-back is finally about to bear fruit, as the Lilywhites are on the verge of completing a deal to sign Genoa's Radu Dragusin.
Despite the best efforts of Italian champions Napoli and Bundesliga title-holders Bayern Munich - who failed with a last-minute hijack for the 21-year-old's services - Dragusin's agent has confirmed that the defender has chosen to advance his career in North London.
Dragusin was pictured at an airport in Italy on Wednesday morning as he flies in to complete his €30m (£25.8m) move, which could supposedly be announced within a matter of hours so long as he passes his medical with flying colours.
The Romania international will bolster a backline ravaged by injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero over the past couple of months, and he is set to become Spurs' second signing of the January transfer window following the loan capture of Timo Werner from RB Leipzig.
Ahead of Dragusin's imminent switch to Tottenham, Sports Mole provides the lowdown on the defender's fledgling career so far and details what Spurs fans can expect from their new rearguard enforcer.
Background
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A Bucharest native, Dragusin was born into a sporting family, as the 21-year-old's mother represented Romania in basketball while his father played volleyball for his country; his younger sister has since followed in her mother's footsteps.
Rather than pursue a career shooting balls into hoops, Dragusin now prides himself on stopping balls flying into the back of the net and began his footballing journey with two Bucharest-based teams, turning out for Sportul Studentesc and Regal Sport Bucuresti before catching the eye of Juventus.
The Italian giants are believed to have beaten several other European heavyweights to Dragusin's signature in 2018, paying a reported €2.1m (£1.8m) for the teenage defender, who became a Coppa Italia Serie C winner with the Bianconeri's Under-23s in 2020.
Dragusin was awarded his first senior Juventus contract midway through the 2020-21 campaign and made his senior debut for the Old Lady in December 2020 under Andrea Pirlo, coming off the bench in a Champions League group-stage win over Dynamo Kiev.
The Romanian went on to make another three appearances for the Old Lady that year - including two starts in the Coppa Italia - but a spate of loan spells soon followed for Dragusin, who made 15 appearances with Sampdoria in the first half of the 2021-22 campaign before spending the second portion of the season with Salernitana.
While his stock had risen slightly by the summer of 2022, a loan move to then-Serie B side Genoa last season gave Dragusin the platform to elevate his game to another level, as he netted four goals in 38 games for Il Grifone to play an integral role in their promotion back to the top flight.
Recent form
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Genoa had negotiated a €5.5m (£4.7m) option to buy clause in Dragusin's deal from Juventus, which was unsurprisingly triggered in the wake of their successful second-tier campaign, and he has remained a stalwart in the Italian outfit's backline since their return to the big time.
While he would do a competent job at right-back in the earlier stages of his career, Dragusin had nailed down a central role with Genoa and has not missed a single minute of Serie A action this season, also banking two goals and one assist at the correct end of the field.
Thanks to Dragusin's imposing presence in the backline, Genoa's notable scalps this season include a 4-1 thrashing of Roma - in which the 6ft 3in defender set up a Morten Thorsby goal - a 1-0 beating of Lazio and score draws with Juventus, Napoli and Inter Milan, helping Il Grifone cement a 12th-placed ranking in the table.
Among all players in the Italian top flight this season, only Cagliari's Alberto Dossena (101) has made more clearances than Dragusin's 87 this season, while 58 aerials won is the third-best record of its kind behind Duvan Zapata (63) and 6ft 6in Hellas Verona striker Milan Djuric (118).
Dragusin's 6ft 3in frame has come in handy in both boxes for Genoa, and the 21-year-old's overall style of play is slightly akin to that of Arsenal's William Saliba; he shows good awareness and anticipation to time his sliding tackles well and is composed on the ball when under pressure.
Dragusin also has an eye for a long pass and sublime through ball to a teammate, but on the other hand, he is more than happy to put the ball into touch and produce no-nonsense clearances when the situation calls for it.
Discipline is a notable strength of the Romanian's too, as from 22 appearances in all tournaments this term, Dragusin has only been booked once; music to the ears of Tottenham fans who have already witnessed several players serve suspensions in the current campaign.
International experience
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After first pulling on the Romania shirt for the Under-15s - over a year before his switch to Juventus - Dragusin donned his national team's colours at Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-21 level, earning his stripes for the latter team under Adrian Mutu.
The defender turned out for the Under-21s at the 2021 European Championships before breaking into the senior team just after his 20th birthday in March 2022, making his debut as a substitute in a 1-0 friendly loss to Greece that month.
Dragusin dropped back down to Under-21 level during the 2022 Nations League, but manager Edward Iordanescu promoted him back to the first XI for Romania's Euro 2024 qualifying period, in which the Tricolours went through all 10 games without suffering defeat.
Dragusin started every single one of those fixtures for Romania, who achieved six wins and four draws in Group I to qualify for the finals in first place, beating Switzerland, Israel, Andorra, Belarus and Kosovo to top spot and conceding just five goals along the way.
Romania kept six clean sheets from their 10 Group I fixtures with Dragusin marshalling the backline, and unless injury cruelly robs him of the opportunity, the Tottenham new boy is in line to make his major tournament debut at Euro 2024, where Belgium, Slovakia and the winner of playoff path B will await in an intriguing Group E.
Ben Knapton
