Inter Milan hope Tottenham will accept a cash-plus-player offer for Mousa Dembele, according to reports in Italy.
Dembele has just one year left on his contract with Spurs and is expected to leave the club this summer.
Clubs in Italy and China have been heavily linked with a move for the midfielder, with Inter thought to be chief among his suitors.
Italian outlet Tuttosport (via talkSPORT) claims Tottenham have slapped a £26 million price tag on Dembele, a hefty fee for a player with just a year remaining on his current deal.
The report suggests Inter are only prepared to pay £10 million for the Belgian.
However, they would be willing to include a player on top of the £10 million in order to tempt Spurs into selling Dembele.
Tuttosport believes Joao Mario, who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Ham United, is the favourite to be used as a makeweight.
Tottenham fans will probably be hoping for a bigger name than Joao Mario, but the Portugal international would provide a decent squad option for Mauricio Pochettino.
Keep Dembele at least until we have a suitable replacement, but personally I would like to see him and Jan and Hugo retire at Spurs as icons of the club, not have to watch any of them dominate for other elite clubs. Imagine having to play against Dembele in the champions league and watch him run all over whatever makeshift midfield we can muster? That would just be too much.
Pretty sure that Spurs will try to help Dembele meet his needs- which are rumoured to be to get a contract in a slightly less physical league where he can play a few years without his recurring injury closing his career. We understand that Spurs have had a substantial offer from China which would fairly compensate Tottenham an help Dembele meet his needs. I don’t know why Spurs, or for that matter, Dembele, would even consider the offer from Inter Milan. As for Mario- he is Inter’s problem and he can continue to be.