Tottenham have expressed an interest in signing Elseid Hysaj from Napoli, but the Serie A club are demanding a fee of £23 million ($28m) from the Premier League side.
Hysaj has been looking to move from Napoli for the past six months as he has dropped down the pecking order since Carlo Ancelotti took over as coach from Maurizio Sarri last summer.
The Albanian has been used during their pre-season fixtures, but he currently ranks as the third-choice option at right-back for Ancelotti’s side.
Napoli have been trying to offload Hysaj for two consecutive transfer windows and they are thought to have interest in him from other Italian clubs, with the deadline for him to move within Serie A not until September 2.
However, the transfer window for Premier League teams closes at 5pm BST (12pm ET) on Thursday and Spurs may try to negotiate a deal for Hysaj down to around £18m ($22m).
Though Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is notoriously difficult to negotiate with, Hysaj has less than two years to run on his contract and this may ease the process.
If Spurs can pull off a deal before the transfer window shuts, Hysaj’s arrival would soften the blow of the injury suffered by Juan Foyth.
Argentine defender Foyth was set to be Mauricio Pochettino's first-choice right-back ahead of his side's opening Premier League match against Aston Villa on Saturday, but he suffered an ankle injury against Bayern Munich and is expected to be out for a number of weeks.
It is shaping up to be a busy end to the transfer window for Spurs after they agreed a €70m (£65m/$78m) fee with Juventus for Paulo Dybala.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are asking for between €20m and €30m from Tottenham to allow Philippe Coutinho to leave on a season-long loan deal.
Spurs would also have to pay the full £200,000-a-week wages of the former Liverpool man and have not been offered an option-to-buy him at the end of the deal.
Real Betis’ Giovani Lo Celso and Sporting CP’s Bruno Fernandes have also been linked with moves to north London amid the search for another central midfielder after Tanguy Ndombele’s club-record arrival from Lyon.
Tottenham could yet lose Christian Eriksen before the close of the transfer window, with the Denmark international in the final year of his contract and having been linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid.