Football News

Genoa CEO Andres Blazquez has revealed that Radu Dragusin wanted to stay with the Italian side until the end of January prior to his Tottenham transfer. Earning rave reviews in Serie A, Spurs made their move for the Romanian international at the beginning of January transfer window as they looked to add some defensive reinforcements to Ange Postecoglou's squad.

On course to join Tottenham, there was a scare for the Lilywhites in their move for the player as Bayern Munich submitted a late offer for the highly-rated centre-back. Even though Bayern's offer was financially better, Dragusin in the end opted to head to north London.

In an interview with CaughtOffside, Blazquez has opened up on Dragusin's transfer to Tottenham and the player's desire to remain in Liguria for a bit longer due to his commitment to the team. However, pressure from interested clubs proved to be too much and he subsequently signed for Spurs in early January.

«It was a bit higher than that, but overall up to €31million (£26.7million) with a base of €26million (£22.4million),» explained Genoa's CEO when asked about the transfer fee. «We knew his potential, he hadn't had the right experiences and I think he took the wrong career path. He came here and said he wanted to play and be a starter from day one.

»He had time to develop, he made some mistakes in the beginning but he's a very smart player. From the beginning he was able to correct those mistakes and we just knew we had a fantastic talent.

«Our idea was not to sell, he didn't want to leave in January because he was so committed to the team. He wanted to make sure that Genoa basically meets their goal for the year and he said: 'OK, let me stay until the end of January'. But it was not possible because