Tottenham and Chelsea's £20m transfer target – goals guaranteed?

Posted Saturday, August 23, 2014 by Talksport.co.uk

A striker capable of scoring goals. That's the dream for Tottenham and Chelsea – Diego Costa aside – and Mattia Destro is in their sights. Here, talkSPORT's Transfer Spotlight has more on a man who, as it turns out, is not the baddie from GI Joe in disguise...

Name: Mattia Destro

Date of birth: 20/03/91

Born: Ascoli Piceno, central Italy

Club: Roma

Position: Forward

International: Five Italy caps

What's the latest?

Apparently both Chelsea and Tottenham have been sounded out by Roma to see if either club would be interested in buying Mattia Destro. Reports from Italy say Tottenham sporting director Franco Baldini met his opposite number at Roma, Walter Sabatini, in London to discuss a deal. One back page report in the UK, though, claimed Chelsea may offer Fernando Torres for Destro, who is valued at £20m, with the Spaniard moving to Rome on a season-long loan.

Did you know?

1) Destro, whose dad Flavio played for Ascoli in the 1980s, joined the Inter academy in 2005, winning several honours at youth level including two league titles. Genoa signed him on loan in 2010 with the option to buy, and in September of that year he scored on his Serie A debut against Chievo.

2) At the end of the 2011/12 season Destro was loaned out to Siena, where he scored regularly for the first time in his senior career, producing 12 goals in 30 Serie A games, the most by any player under the age of 22 in the Italian top flight for more than 40 years. Roma snapped him up in the summer of 2012.

3) The 2012/13 campaign proved to be a memorable one for the forward, with five goals in five Coppa Italia games – including three against former club Inter – making him the top scorer in the competition. However, he could not command a regular place with Francesco Totti, Dani Osvaldo and Erik Lamela in the forward roles blocking his path.

4) A knee injury sustained in January 2013 halted his progression and returned to the first team in style at the beginning of December where he scored against Fiorentina to secure a 2-1 win (see video evidence below). Destro finished the 2013/14 season with 13 goals in 20 games. He is simply an exceptional finisher and looks to finally be fulfilling the promise he showed earlier in his career.

5) To date he has played five times for Italy and scored once. He missed out on a place in the 2014 World Cup squad, however, with manager Cesare Prandelli explaining he did not want to take three forwards with him.

What is being said?

Today he proved that he is not only a box striker, but a complete forward and he understood you have to give your all in every second of every game. He must maintain that desire to win. – Roma manager Rudi Garcia after Destro's hat-trick against Cagliari in April