Tottenham Hotspur had reportedly emerged as the front-runners to sign Roma star Nicolo Zaniolo this summer, but that no longer appears to be the case. 

Recent reports have revealed that Jose Mourinho is very keen to sign the wonderkid when the transfer window opens. The Lilywhites had been linked to Zaniolo long before Mourinho took over from Mauricio Pochettino, although it seems they are no further forward in getting him.

According to Fabrizio Romano, as per @Daily_Hotspur, there is currently no chance of Tottenham signing him in the summer.

Spurs have been dealt a huge blow as the Serie A side are refusing to sell one of Mourinho's top targets. AS Roma boss Paulo Fonseca has made it clear he does not want to sell Zaniolo this summer as he is a part of his plans for the future. While the Italian was on Tottenham's radar last year, Roma now have no interest in letting him leave.

After arriving at the Stadio Olimpico from Inter Milan for £4m in 2018, he has been touted as one of the best players of his generation having broken through the ranks into the first team and proven to be one of their key players in the process.

The 21-year-old has played 22 games in Serie A this season, scoring five goals, supplying one assist, taking 1.7 shots, averaging one key pass and completing 1.9 dribbles per game on average so far (stats provided by WhoScored).

Roma have even gone so far as to slap a hefty £50m price tag on his head to ward off any potential suitors.

Although it looks as though the Lilywhites have been monitoring Zaniolo for a while, Daniel Levy has insisted that he will not be spending "rivers of money" in the summer.

He would certainly seem to be an ideal signing to make but it is unlikely that he will be anything more than that as Spurs simply cannot afford him at the moment.

Tottenham fans, do you think Levy should sign Zaniolo this summer? Let us know in the comments below!