---
title: "Tottenham Hotspur: Gianluigi Longari says Spurs are ‘ready’ to meet Nikola Maksimovic wage demands"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/tottenham-hotspur-gianluigi-longari-says-spurs-are-ready-to-meet-nikola-maksimovic-wage-demands/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Emilio Galantini"
section: "Premier League"
published: "2021-01-24T12:35:26Z"
modified: "2021-01-24T12:35:26Z"
---

# Tottenham Hotspur: Gianluigi Longari says Spurs are ‘ready’ to meet Nikola Maksimovic wage demands

**Speaking to Il Napoli Online, via [Sport Witness](https://sportwitness.co.uk/tottenham-maksimovic-napoli-transfer/), Italian journalist Gianluigi Longari dropped a promising Tottenham transfer claim – going on to say that the Lilywhites and, by extension, chairman Daniel Levy, are ‘[ready](https://sportwitness.co.uk/tottenham-maksimovic-napoli-transfer/)‘ to meet Serie A defender Nikola Maksimovic’s wage demands in a potential swoop.**

Maksimovic, who has started just four Serie A matches for Napoli this season ([WhoScored](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/98631/Show/Nikola-Maksimovic)), is apparently still attracting Spurs’ interest regardless – with Levy seemingly prepared to match the Serbian’s salary in a move.

\[freshpress-poll id=”343402″\]

### Levy ready to meet Maksimovic wage

Longari hints Spurs are showing a desire to sign the 6 foot 4 titan, while he believes Maksimovic ‘[will](https://sportwitness.co.uk/tottenham-maksimovic-napoli-transfer/)‘ move away from the Stadio San Paolo with an exit out of Napoli seemingly inevitable – especially considering he is out of contract in the summer.

The journalist claims that it is unlikely that he will put pen to paper on a new deal, with Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis allegedly working on a renewal, and that Tottenham are ‘ready’ to meet any ‘economic’ demand for his signature.

“About Hysaj, I have more hope, while I believe that Maksimovic will go away,” Longari explained (to Il Napoli Online via [Sport Witness](https://sportwitness.co.uk/tottenham-maksimovic-napoli-transfer/)).

“On him, there are many teams ready to satisfy him even at an economic level, including Tottenham.

“Napoli has a great relationship with the agent of Hysaj, Mario Giuffredi, therefore, they are very optimistic about the renewal of the Albanian-back.”

### Transfer Tavern take

Despite only playing a handful of games this season, Maksimovic appears to fit the profile of a defender Jose Mourinho would be keen on, judging by his past pursuit of 6 foot 2 colossus Milan Skriniar ([Gianluca Di Marzio](https://gianlucadimarzio.com/it/inter-skriniar-tottenham-cifre-milenkovic)).

According to WhoScored, both Skriniar and Spurs’ latest alleged defensive target have comfortably averaged over 90% pass completion this campaign (Skriniar, [92.6%](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/302918/Show/Milan-Skriniar); Maksimovic, [95.3%](https://www.whoscored.com/Players/98631/Show/Nikola-Maksimovic)) – while the two centre-backs are also towering in stature.

These numbers suggest that Mourinho is keen on a defender who can play out from the back whilst possessing physical prowess, and Maksimovic could also be a welcome addition in the summer given he could leave as a free agent.

Time will tell whether Spurs are the club to land him, but he could tick all the boxes for Mourinho.

***In other news: Fabrizio Romano says Tottenham are also ‘ready’ to let this player leave, find out more [here.](https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/tottenham-transfer-rumours/tottenham-hotspur-fabrizio-romano-says-spurs-are-ready-to-let-gedson-fernandes-leave/)***