Last month, Tottenham Hotspur paid Genoa £26.7m to sign centre-back Radu Dragusin, making him the most expensive acquisition of the January transfer window. It’s been a quiet start for Dragusin as Ange Postecoglou gradually eases him in, with the Romanian limited to brief substitute outings against Manchester United, Brentford and Everton. He didn’t appear at all in the dramatic 2-1 victory over Brighton last weekend.
Postecoglou now has his full complement of centre-backs available after Micky van de Ven returned from a 10-game hamstring lay-off and Cristian Romero missed three matches with a similar but less severe complaint.
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While Spurs offloaded Eric Dier to Bayern Munich on loan, Postecoglou has been able to call upon not only Dragusin but also Ben Davies in reserve, which seemingly leaves little room for Joe Rodon, currently playing his football on loan at Leeds United.
Spurs set Joe Rodon price tag
According to Football Insider, Spurs are now ready to sell Rodon if they receive an offer in the region of £10m to £15m. The Welshman is not part of the club’s long-term plans under Postecoglou, and they’re “eager to cash in” and boost their transfer budget in the process.
“Multiple” Premier League sides expressed an interest in Rodon last month but were put off by Spurs’ asking price, although it remains to be seen if that changes in the summer. Leeds themselves are keen to sign him permanently, but a transfer is unlikely if they fail to get promoted.
Rodon exit has felt inevitable
In truth, the writing has seemingly been on the wall for Rodon for a while. Spurs paid Swansea up to £15m to sign the defender in 2020, when Jose Mourinho was still manager, but he was loaned out to French club Rennes last season after hardly featuring the year before (he made 10 appearances overall and didn’t start a single league game).
His loan at Leeds has been a resounding success, with manager Daniel Farke hailing him as a “warrior” and fans voting him as their player of the month in December. As you can see in the table below, he’s the only Spurs loanee to clock over 2,000 minutes of football this season.
The goal for Spurs, who are well-stocked at the back, could now be to be at least break even on the 26-year-old, having found the ideal club for him to thrive. If Leeds, currently 3rd in the Championship, do come back up, then they’ll surely be desperate to make Rodon a key part of their squad in the top flight.
