Tottenham are paying closer attention to Lazio star Keita Balde after he reacted angrily to being left out of his club’s Supercoppa Italiana squad.
The 22-year-old forward has fallen out with the Romans after refusing to sign a new contract and angling for a move to Juventus, their opponents in this weekend's showpiece — the Italian version of the Community Shield.
Lazio do not want to sell Balde to the Serie A champions though, allowing Spurs, West Ham and France's Monaco into the hunt for a player who has just 12 months left on his current deal.
Balde managed 18 goals and six assists in 34 appearances last season.
He took to Twitter after his snub on Saturday, writing: “The lack of a call-up for the Super Cup Final has profoundly hurt me.
"It is the first important match of the season, for which I had prepared and was ready for action.
“The decision made by the club, which evidently had nothing to do with purely sporting criteria, puts me in a psychologically uncomfortable position and right now I don’t know how to evaluate the consequences of that.”
Tottenham are already confident of landing £35m-rated defender Davinson Sanchez from Ajax this week.
The 21-year-old is understood to have told the club he wants to join the north Londoners.
He was left out of the Ajax squad for their game against Heracles on Saturday night after insisting he was not in the right frame of mind to play.
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