Radu Dragusin’s agent has warned that the defender would not stay at Tottenham Hotspur if he continued to be centre-back cover, while admitting Napoli would have been strong contenders in January had Spurs not arrived.
Tottenham beat off competition from Bayern Munich to sign the 22-year-old defender from Italian side Genoa for a £25m fee.
However, Ange Postecoglou has only used the defender sparingly, with other options considered ahead of him on a regular basis.
The situation has not been pleasing for the defender, who was a regular for Genoa in the first half of the season.
His agent Manea, while giving an insight into his client’s future, revealed that an immediate return to Italy where Napoli had been and are still interested might not be possible just yet.
He admits though that had Tottenham not come in during January then Napoli could have been Dragusin’s destination.
“Return to Italy? I don’t think so because he arrived in January”, Manea was quoted as saying by Italian outlet ArenaNapoli.
“Then you never know in life, let’s hope not, but you never know.
“I think so [Napoli would have tried to sign him if Tottenham had not come in], but Bayern were also there and wanted to leave Italy.
“If Bayern and Tottenham hadn’t been there we would have chosen Napoli.”
Former Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has been linked taking over at Napoli and Manea admits that working under the Italian would be tempting.
He stressed that if Spurs continued to regard Dragusin as simply centre-back cover next season then he would likely look to leave north London.
“Conte is one of the best in the world.
“It would be an honour to work with him, but at the moment it’s difficult to say what will happen.
“Then if a loan offer from Napoli arrived with Conte there, it would have to be evaluated.
“When you work with someone like Antonio Conte, you learn on many levels.
“If he [Postecoglou] told him that [he would continue to be centre-back cover], I don’t think Dragusin would stay and not play.”
Dragusin has a long-term contract with Tottenham running until the summer of 2030, but will be looking for more starts under Postecoglou next term.
