Tottenham have had an offer rejected by Bologna for defender Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Spurs offered £12.9m (€15m) plus an extra £2.6m (€3m) in add-ons in a bid with a total value of £15.5m (€18m).
However, the offer is close to the Serie A club’s valuation of at least £17.2m (€20m), and talks remain ongoing over a deal for the defender.
Sky Sports News reported earlier this week that Tottenham’s new managing director of football Fabio Paritici had opened talks with Bologna for Tomiyasu, who is highly-rated in Italy.
Tomiyasu is equally comfortable at both centre-back and right-back – both priority positions that Spurs want to strengthen this summer.
Takehiro Tomiyasu is valued at least at £17.2m by Bologna.
The future of right-back Serge Aurier is in doubt, with the Ivory Coast international seeking to leave, while they have been looking to strengthen at centre-back since last summer despite signing Joe Rodon.
Sky Sports News has already reported the club’s interest in Tariq Lamptey of Brighton and Norwich’s Max Aarons in the right-back position.
At centre-back, they like Joachim Anderson after his impressive loan at Fulham last season and Jannick Vestergaard of Southampton among a number of others.
Tomiyasu, meanwhile, played almost an equal number of games at right-back and centre-back last season but was arguably more impressive at full-back, as the 22-year-old scored twice from the position against Atalanta and Udinese.
He also has 23 caps and a goal for Japan and his Bologna contract currently runs until 2024.
