Tottenham Close to Signing Villarreal Defender Mateo Musacchio For £17million

Reports from Spain have been surfacing over the past few days linking Villarreal defender Mateo Musacchio with a £17 million move to Tottenham Hotspur.

Today, news from England says the deal is in place and the 23-year-old will soon be arriving at White Hart Lane.

When the deal is announced, Musacchio will become the fourth new arrival in north London this summer following: Eric Dier (Sporting Lisbon), Ben Davies and Michel Vorm (Swansea City).

Although the defender has played just twice internationally for Argentina since 2011 and spent the 2012-13 season in the Segunda Division, Musacchio helped the Spanish club earn promotion last season and made 32 appearances for El Submarino Amarillo; Villarreal also qualified for the 2014-15 Europa League.

Villarreal manager Marcelino Garcia Toral has been commenting on the player’s imminent departure since the weekend and the 48-year-old boss knows his side will have a difficult time replacing Musacchio.

“Things will change quite a lot [for this team]. The quality and level of [Musacchio] will make it difficult to find a replacement,” Toral told the Spanish newspaper AS.

“It’s always more complicated to adapt the team to a new defender than to a forward or midfielder [and] it’s not easy, at this level, to find a new defender. It won’t be easy [to replace him] but the solution, for better or worse, will be found soon.”

“Mateo is a very important player for Villarreal,” he added. “He’s an excellent player and will be a difficult loss to cover, especially as he plays in a tough position to reinforce.”

Although Musacchio lacks pace, he makes up for that deficiency by reading the game well and anticipating where the ball is going to be next; the defender made 108 interceptions last season in La Liga.

His addition is another solid signing by new Spurs’ boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Expect an announcement from Tottenham within 24-48 hours.