Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly set their sights on 19-year-old Ukrainian centre-back Ilya Zabarnyi ahead of a potential move this summer.
According to football.london, Tottenham Hotspur are among the clubs keeping a close eye on the highly-rated Ukrainian prodigy Ilya Zabarnyi and are considering the option of making a swoop for the 19-year-old defender this summer.
Tottenham are in for a major rebuild under the guidance of Antonio Conte and technical director Fabio Paratici. With Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster already through the doors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs have made a great start to the summer transfer season and have no intentions of taking their foot off the gas in the coming weeks.
The backline has been a hot topic of conversation lately. The Lilywhites want to sign a centre-back as they look to strengthen their ranks this summer. While countless central defenders are getting linked to the north London club, Alessandro Bastoni and Josko Gvardiol are said to be their priority targets, although they have only faced disappointment in both pursuits so far. The latest name to surface is Dynamo Kyiv’s 19-year-old Ukrainian centre-back Ilya Zabarnyi.
A product of the Dinamo Kyiv youth academy, Zabarnyi made his debut on September 11th, 2020 as an 18-year-old and was given a run of games thanks to a defensive crisis at the club. And the teenage prodigy has grasped the opportunity with both hands and has not looked back since.
To date, Zabarnyi has made 59 appearances for Dynamo Kyiv and has three trophies to his name. He helped Dynamo to the Ukrainian double as well as the Ukrainian Supercup in the 2020/21 season. Now, 19, the young centre-half made 23 appearances for his side last season, 15 of which came in the Ukrainian Premier League before it was suspended due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
This is not the first time Zabarnyi has been linked to a move to an English club and the Premier League, with Tottenham’s city rivals Chelsea having already shown interest in securing his services last summer. However, they backed out of the €12 million agreement after Thomas Tuchel chose to turn his attention elsewhere.
Tottenham are now plotting to launch a summer swoop for the Ukrainian international, who penned a new deal until 2026 with his club last year and could be made available owing to the unclear situation regarding the players on the books of Ukrainian clubs.
Zabarnyi is a tall, graceful, defender who can play on either side of the defence and would offer flexibility to Conte’s side. The 19-year-old has the proclivity to transform defence into attack and possesses all the attributes necessary to become a top-level centre-back.
Standing at 6ft 2in, Zabarnyi is a nuisance in either box and is an excellent distributor from the back. At just 19 years old, he seems to have the whole package in his locker. It remains to be seen if Tottenham go with a player with a high ceiling to fill the centre-back void rather than spending heavily on a more proven option.
