Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino set to make Paulo Gazzaniga first summer signing from Southampton
Poch wants competition among his back-up keepers to Hugo Lloris heading into the new season
MAURICIO POCHETTINO is set to make “Gazza” his first signing of the summer.
The Tottenham boss is poised to raid old club Southampton for Paulo Gazzaniga in a £2million deal.
Poch wants competition among his back-up keepers to Hugo Lloris heading into a season with Champions League football and more games.
He knows Gazzaniga, 25, from his time at St Mary’s in 2013-14 before he moved to Spurs.
Gazzaniga was back-up to Saints No1 Artur Boruc but Poch rated his fellow Argie as a promising keeper for the future.
Last season Gazzaniga was loaned out to Rayo Vallecano in Spain where he got games under his belt.
Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino was expected to listen to offers for him this summer, with two years left on the keepers’ contract.
And Spurs have emerged front of the queue for the ex-Gillingham keeper as Poch needs genuine competition to fight on four fronts.
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He insisted this week on pre-season tour that Tottenham must spend to challenge for the Premier League title.
Gazzaniga will be a squad player rather than a regular – and would have to star in a trophy-laden season to have the same star billing as the original Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne, who lit up White Hart Lane between 1988 and 1991.
There are no new faces yet at Tottenham – who have said goodbye to Kyle Walkerand are battling to hang onto Eric Dier.
But Poch – who has been linked with a move for Everton’s Ross Barkley – says there are plans in the pipeline.
The Argentinian said: “Our moment will arrive. We have a plan. We are calm because our squad is competitive squad.
“We have a very clear idea of what we want and what we need to do to try and achieve our target.
“I want to tell our fans ‘don’t be worried’ because there are a lot of rumours about the big sides spending money.
“And maybe it looks like Tottenham is not ambitious but we will move in the market and we will be competitive like the last two seasons.”
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