Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has requested to sign Inter Milan defender Denzel Dumfries, according to reports over the last 48 hours.

The Lowdown: Reinforcements needed

The Premier League giants currently have Emerson Royal as their first-choice right-back, but with Matt Doherty and Djed Spence failing to make an impact, the 53-year-old is understandably on the lookout for reinforcements.

Dumfries still has nearly three years remaining on his deal at the San Siro but Simone Inzaghi’s side are believed to be open to a sale in 2023, with his price tag having now been revealed.

The Latest: Spurs monitoring Dumfries

According to Rudy Galetti (via Sport Witness) on Thursday, Spurs are just one of several clubs ‘chasing’ Dumfries, with the signing being a personal ‘request’ from Conte.

The report states that the Tottenham manager is ‘not convinced’ by Emerson, with the 26-year-old Dutchman identified as a suitable ‘alternative’.

Inter are willing to consider offers in the region of €30m (£26m), with Chelsea and Manchester United also holding a strong interest, duly creating big competition for the Lilywhites.

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-news-3/" title="Tottenham latest news!" poster="" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

The Verdict: Emerson replacement?

Tottenham clearly aren’t sold on Emerson and are only playing him because he’s the best of a bad bunch, but having been hailed as a ‘big threat’ by Sky Sports pundit Kevin Campbell, Dumfries would certainly appear to be an upgrade.

The Rotterdam native already has two goals and two assists to his name across all competitions this season and is currently averaging 1.3 shots and 1.1 key passes per league game (WhoScored).

For comparison, Dumfries exceeds all three of Spurs' senior right-back options for all of those metrics (WhoScored).

For someone with such experience and fantastic ability as the Dutchman, Fabio Paratici splashing out £26m shouldn’t even be up for debate, with his existing connection to Serie A potentially handing Tottenham an advantage in this transfer pursuit.