(Football news) Steven Bergwijn is close to joining Ajax FC as Tottenham Hotspur are continuing to demand up to €25 million despite the winger's wish to move to the Dutch champions. According to reports, the Eredivisie champions are confident Bergwijn will join them as he targets regular first-team football before the World Cup in Qatar this year. Sources have added that Ajax had a bid rejected for Bergwijn last week, and in the winter transfer window they were close to signing him but ultimately Ajax couldn’t meet the asking price. As of now none of those two bids have exceeded €20m.
Spurs want to recoup the majority of the €30m they paid PSV Eindhoven for Bergwijn in January 2020 but his role has been reduced to a squad player making substitute appearance under Antonio Conte. Although the Italian has publicly praised Bergwijn for his versatility, he has not started a game since Jan. 23, when Tottenham lost 2-0 at Chelsea. Bergwijn fell down the pecking order when they purchased Dejan Kulusevski who arrived from Juventus in January and since then has been in terrific form as they formed a deadly trio. Ajax remain hopeful of completing a deal soon as Bergwijn has already agreed a five-year contract with the Dutch giants as personal terms aren’t a problem but negotiations are continuing between the two clubs to find a agreement with the fee
It remains to be seen whether Manchester United will enter the race for him since Erik ten Hag is a big fan of the player. Ten Hag was previously at Ajax and wanted to sign Bergwijn to begin with. Conte doesn’t mind keeping Bergwijn but realises that the club needs to balance their finances with Spurs targeting as many as six summer signings to turn them into Premier League title contenders next season. Tottenham have already signed Ivan Perisic and Fraser Foster, both the players are arriving on a free transfer. Spurs are also in talks to sign Inter centre-back Alessandro Bastoni and furthermore,they remain in the race for Middlesbrough defender Djed Spence.
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