Inter hopeful of Spurs' Vertonghen joining for free in summer – Guardian

Vertonghen's Spurs stint

Jan Vertonghen made the switch to Tottenham in 2012 from Ajax.

The North London outfit are believed to have paid around £11.25m for his services.

The Belgian has gone on to become a key figure in Spurs' backline.

In his seven and a bit year spell with the club, Vertonghen has featured 294 times for Tottenham's senior side, scoring 12 and assisting six.

The central defender has also featured on nine occasions so far this season.

Inter eyeing Vertonghen

However, the 32-year-old's stint in North London could be coming to an end.

Vertonghen's current contract with Spurs is set to expire in July of 2020.

Should the defender fail to agree terms over a new deal, he could leave for free in the summer.

Also, if Vertonghen doesn't sign a new deal, foreign sides can sign him to a pre-contract agreement as early as January 2020.

With Spurs looking as though they could lose one of their top central defenders for free, you may think they would be inclined to sell him in January in order to at least recoup some money from him.

However, according to Fabrizio Romano writing for The Guardian, Tottenham have told Serie A outfit Inter Milan that they will not sell Vertonghen in January.

But Inter are said to be hopeful that the Belgian will join them for free in the summer:

Tottenham have told Internazionale they will not contemplate selling Jan Vertonghen in January but the Serie A club will not give up their pursuit of the Belgium international and hope he will join on a free in the summer.