Tottenham Hotspur are ready to battle Manchester United to sign Italian international midfielder Davide Frattesi.

Italian outlet Il Resto del Carlino report that both clubs have sent scouts to watch the Sassoulo man this season, as well as Brighton.

The Italian club are gearing up for the January transfer window and are prepared for interest in their top scorer then and in the summer too.

There is also competition from Italy, in the shape of Antonio Conte’s old club Inter, and Roma, managed by Jose Mourinho, who is of course a former incumbent of the Spurs and United dugouts.

Sassuolo will only do business for a fee of 30 million euros (£26 million), which is a pricetag which Inter backed away from in the summer.

Mourinho would likely dearly love to beat Spurs and United to get the midfielder, who joined Sassoulo from Roma in 2017.

That means that his former employers have a sell-on clause which would effectively enable them to sign him at a lower price than Spurs, United, Brighton, Inter or anyone else.

Frattesi broke into the Italy squad this year and has three caps to his name, but will not be going to the World Cup this summer as the European Champions did not qualify.

The player himself has said he dreams of playing in the Premier League: “I’d like that, it’s a league I can see myself in.

“It’s a step to take in two or three years, after I’ve established myself. But it’s a league that fascinates me a lot, also because it doesn’t have too many tactics, where you go back and forth for ninety minutes and I like that idea.

“Then Gianluca Scamacca, who was in Holland, told me that abroad they have a different way of approaching football. It would be nice to get to know a new culture.”