Tottenham have been monitoring Anderlecht midfielder Nathan De Cat for months and view the 17-year-old Belgian as an ideal deep-lying playmaker to build around alongside Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, but the competition for his signature is growing rapidly with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid all tracking him ahead of the summer window.
De Cat has already earned his first senior cap for Belgium, a milestone that underlines the scale of his potential at an age when most players are still in youth football. He turns 18 this summer, at which point he becomes eligible for a full cross-European transfer, opening the window that every interested club has been waiting for.
Anderlecht’s position is firm. Brighton had a bid exceeding €20m rejected in February, and the Belgian club’s asking price has since risen to €35-40m. That figure reflects both De Cat’s rising market value and the reality of a bidding war they now know is coming.
Nathan De Cat Tottenham transfer interest: what the club are planning
Sporting director Johan Lange and Spurs’ scouting network have been following De Cat across the full second half of the season. Reports from late March through to April indicated Tottenham were preparing a bid of around £30m, which sits just below Anderlecht’s current asking price.
The profile fits De Cat perfectly into what De Zerbi has been building. He is a technical, disciplined midfielder with the positional intelligence to operate as the base of a midfield triangle, reading the game ahead of him and distributing cleanly under pressure. Sitting alongside the energy of Gray and the creativity of Bergvall, his profile would give Spurs a midfield architecture built for the next five years rather than the next twelve months.
The competition that could price Tottenham out
The challenge for Spurs is that almost every club in this race holds more spending power right now. Bayern Munich’s interest is considered particularly strong, with Vincent Kompany’s presence at the club seen as a significant pull factor for a Belgian player of De Cat’s age and ambition.
Manchester City and Chelsea have both intensified their scouting in recent weeks and have deeper pockets than Tottenham regardless of league status. Liverpool and Arsenal view him as a long-term squad planning target. Atletico Madrid are attracted by his physical strength and tactical discipline. Real Madrid are monitoring but currently taking a more cautious approach.
Anderlecht will run the auction until they have extracted the maximum. With De Cat’s contract running until June 2027, they hold the leverage to do exactly that. For Tottenham, who see this as precisely the type of signing their rebuild must be built around, the question is whether they can stay in the race as the price climbs above £30m and into territory where their financial position becomes increasingly uncomfortable.
