​We’ve known it was coming for a while, and now it’s official. Radu Drăgușin has joined Fiorentina, having completed his medical and signed on with the club. The contract runs through 2031 and is reported to pay him €2 million per year, according to Nicolò Schira. Alasdair Gold notes that the deal is structured as a loan that becomes obligatory should the Romanian defender reach a certain number of appearances, at which point Tottenham Hotspur would also receive €25 million plus 10% of any future sale.
Drăgușin, now 24, spent his formative years in football with Juventus’ academy after joining at age 16. He progressed through the ranks and made four senior appearances for Juve before going on loan to Genoa in 2022. That loan spell helped him secure a €10 million transfer to Genoa a year later. Spurs moved to snap him up in 2024 with a €28 million bid, but he never managed to establish himself in North London, tallying just 48 appearances across three seasons. An ACL injury in 2025 sidelined him for nearly a year, and even prior to that setback, he hadn’t looked like he would break into the Spurs’ first team.
I asked Dustin George-Miller, the managing editor at our Spurs sister site Cartilage Free Captain and a familiar voice on the SB Nation soccer Slack channel, for his take on Drăgușin. His response was a wealth of context about the player and how he fit— or didn’t fit— Tottenham’s ambitions.
Drăgușin always struck me as an odd fit for Tottenham Hotspur. He’s not a bad defender by any means; the issue is that he didn’t look like the kind of defender Tottenham needed. Signed in January 2024 under Ange Postecoglou, the timing felt off since Drăgușin isn’t naturally suited for a high-press, high-line system. He has solid positional defending and is strong in the air, but he lacks the pace to thrive in a high-line setup, which made him a perplexing choice for Ange’s tactical approach.
There was some speculation that he might fare better under a more pragmatic manager like Thomas Frank, but he found himself behind a formidable pecking order—Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, and Kevin Danso. Then the ACL tear in January 2025 sidelined him for almost an entire year. It’s easy to argue he never truly had a genuine chance at Spurs, but the reality is that even when he was healthy, he didn’t convince as a Premier League starter. The more plausible reading is that his skill set didn’t align with the demands of the league, rather than a simple lack of opportunity.
Enter Fiorentina, where Fabio Paratici’s move to bring him in can be seen as a nod to past utility. Drăgușin has proven himself capable in Italy, with productive spells at Juventus and on loan at Sampdoria, Salernitana, and Genoa. He can contribute in flashes—popping forward on the occasional marauding run and displaying adequate positional awareness. However, his ball-playing ability is not his strongest suit, and that remains a concern if Fiorentina want to emphasize playing out from the back.
In a broader sense, Drăgușin appears to be a useful squad piece in Serie A. Whether he has the ceiling to lock down a regular starting spot for Fiorentina remains uncertain. Firenze’s aerial vulnerabilities last season were conspicuous, so his presence could help in that department, but relying on him to be the cornerstone of their back line would be a stretch. If Fiorentina want to implement a distribution-heavy approach from the back, questions will persist about his comfort with the ball at his feet. If they prioritize solidity and defensive organization, he could be a valuable addition as part of a deeper rotation.
Overall, Drăgușin’s move to Fiorentina represents a measured bet. He isn’t a transformative star, but he’s a proven, serviceable defender who has a decent track record in Italian football. If he can stay healthy and adapt to Fiorentina’s system, he should contribute as a credible squad option in Serie A. Whether that translates into a consistent starting role depends on how well the club can optimize the back line and how the new system suits his strengths.