Ange Postecoglou talks won Tottenham race for ‘wonderkid’ Lucas Bergvall after David Ornstein news
Tottenham won the transfer race for Swedish gem Lucas Bergvall because of the project that Ange Postecoglou is creating in North London, according to Alan Hutton.
Spurs managed to beat La Liga giants Barcelona to the teenager’s signature after it appeared certain he would be heading to Camp Nou, with a late change of heart seeing him head to North London to agree a £8.5million deal on his 18th birthday [David Ornstein, 1 February].
Bergvall will remain with Djurgarden for the remainder of the season before joining up with the rest of Postecoglou’s senior squad in the summer, having already met the Spurs boss and Daniel Levy ahead of the transfer.
While Hutton is delighted that Tottenham have been able to get this deal over the line ahead of Barcelona, he is surprised that the teenager passed up on the European heavyweights and has credited Postecoglou for convincing him to change his mind.
“I’m a little bit surprised, I can’t lie,” Hutton told Tottenham News.
“I know he’s meant to be a wonderkid and everything but I can’t sit here and claim to know everything about him because I absolutely don’t. But they do their background checks, they send their scouting teams over and they’ll know exactly what they’re getting.
“When Barcelona come calling, if you miss that one are they ever going to come back? Who knows, but obviously Ange must have spoken to the player and told him what they’re looking at moving forward.
“Maybe he felt that was a better step for him, rather than going to the likes of Barcelona, but look, we’ll see how it pans out because it is an interesting one.”
Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou more attractive than Barcelona
The current situation at Barcelona is incredibly unstable and joining Los Cules is no longer the guaranteed route to the top that it was for young talent back in the early to mid-2000s.
On the other hand, the project that Postecoglou is building at Tottenham is much more attractive, with a clear recruitment model focused on signing young talent, partnered with an attacking and free-flowing brand of football.
The Australian has managed to get the best out of several attacking players in North London this season and he should be able to do the exact same with Bergvall come the start of next term.
In other Tottenham news, Hutton has shared his verdict on recent links between Postecoglou and the vacant Liverpool job
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