Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Radu Dragusin turned down an offer from Bundesliga heavyweights Bayern Munich in favour of joining the north Londoners.
That’s according to his agent, who claims Dragusin, who is currently representing his nation Romania at the 2024 European Championship, has always dreamt of playing in the Premier League.
The 22-year-old joined Spurs in January after an impressive spell with Genoa. He initially struggled to find his feet in the Premier League but has shown glimpses of his capabilities as an imposing centre-half.
Dragusin is off to a beautiful start in the Euros. He was one of the standout players in the Romania side that pulled off the biggest upset at the tournament thus far after thrashing Ukraine 3-0.
Dragusin’s agent insists he wasn’t surprised by the defender’s dominating performance against Ukraine and backed him to become one of the best centre-backs in the world.
“Dragusin? What can I say, it doesn’t surprise me anymore because I know how he works,” he said (via Play.it).
“If he continues like this, he could become one of the best central defenders in the world. With Dragusin, we always made the right choices.
“His dream as a child was to play in the Premier League. Last summer, Bayern offered him double, but he chose Tottenham. He thinks about his career and is a really intelligent footballer.”
Tottenham have a gem on their hands
Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou took his time to integrate Dragusin into the first team, but once the Romanian got his act together, he bagan to show glimpses of his true potential.
Dragusin only played eight minutes of his first three games for Spurs, but he has slowly established himself as a key player, playing the entire 90 minutes in four of his last five league games.
The young centre-back featured nine times in the league, keeping one clean sheet and winning 58% of his total duels.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have already established themselves as Postecoglou’s first-choice pairing at the heart of the defence.
However, Dragusin has given the Australian manager plenty to think about, especially after his exceptional Euros debut, and is expected to get more first-team minutes next term.
Stats from Sofascore.com & Transfermarkt.com