Tottenham in ‘pole position’ over Liverpool for Amrabat after £13m bid for Barcelona star

Tottenham are reportedly leading the race to sign Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina in January.

Amrabat has emerged as a top target for European clubs after his excellent World Cup showing, with Liverpool and Atletico Madrid among his suitors.

But Gazzetta dello Sport claim it’s Spurs who are in ‘pole position’ to sign the 26-year-old, who’s said he wants to be playing the Champions League football that Antonio Conte’s side can offer in the coming months.

Fiorentina are said to be reluctant to lose one of their key players in the middle of the season but would be willing to listen to offers of around £40m.

Tottenham are though looking at alternative options, and could instead land Franck Kessie from Barcelona, just six months on from his move to the Nou Camp.

Kessie has started just five of the Catalan side’s 20 games this season as manager Xavi reportedly ‘doesn’t trust him’.

The Ivory Coast international is ‘convinced’ he can change Xavi’s opinion and become an integral part of his squad, but Spurs have reportedly tabled a bid of €15m (£13m) to test the waters.

Spanish journalist Alfredo Martinez said: “There is an offer from Tottenham for Kessie of just over 15 million euros.”

It’s not clear how active Tottenham will be in the winter window, but Conte has consistently urged the board to back him in their bid for silverware.

“A winning team, you can’t build in one year,” he said after the 2-2 draw with Brentford. “Two years; you have to change mentality, you have to change also many situations, many aspects to become a winner. For sure I have a group of players that show me great ability. I think last season we made a big achievement to finish in the top four.

“But I have just told them now that in this top four now, there isn’t Chelsea, Liverpool and [Manchester] United. And for sure for the rest of the season, we are talking about big, big clubs with great possibility to go into the transfer market to spend money.

“For this reason we have to try to pay attention to the environment, but I can tell that I need to have patience, because you cannot just win, especially – I repeat – if you are not winning for many years.”