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English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur are showing no signs of slowing down in their pursuit of South American star Piero Hincapie. According to the German outlet Kicker, Tottenham are preparing a £34.5 million bid to sign him this summer.
The Lillywhites finished fourth in the Premier League last season and qualified for the Champions League. Antonio Conte has prepared a list of potential targets he wishes to sign ahead of the new season to help the club compete for trophies in the new season.
The 23-year-old Italy and AC Milan center-back Alessandro Bastoni is believed to be one of Conte's top targets ahead of the new season. However, the English club have failed to come to a settlement with AC Milan over Bastoni's acquisition and are pushing to sign others on their wishlist.
Conte's second option is Bayer Leverkusen's 20-year-old defender Piero Hincapie. The Ecuadorian defender was a fixture in the German club's starting lineup in his first Bundesliga season.
Hincapie played 33 matches for the Bundesliga outfit across different competitions and bagged two goals. The youngster is highly rated by some European clubs, including Tottenham and AC Milan.
Hincapie's agent has admitted that AC Milan are interested in signing the 20-year-old defender. He said:
"I can confirm AC Milan's interest in him, but at the moment they are discussing with Bayer to simply understand how to continue to develop together."
It will be interesting to see if the German club will allow the Ecuadorian international to leave after just one season at the club. However, Hotspur's highly inflated bid could tilt the scales in their favor.
Expressing his views on several clubs lining up to sign their young Ecuadorian defender, Bayer Leverkusen's sporting director said:
"Basically, one thing is clear: Piero has a long contract, he is a young player who is already constantly offering the highest level. We are very happy that he is here."
Tottenham Hotspur players return to training for pre-season games
Tottenham Hotspur have released photos of their first-team players returning to training ahead of pre-season fixtures. The photos released were part of their training kit launch featuring Son Heung-Min, Hugo Lloris and Rodrigo Bentancur.
They are scheduled to play Team K League in South Korea and AS Roma in Israel in pre-season friendlies. Their pre-season fixtures also include matches against Sevilla and Rangers Football club. The club will kick off their friendlies on July 13th against Team K League and will play their last match vs AS Roma on July 30th.
