The 25-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at The Den and will be a free agent this summer
Millwall and Luton Town face competition from Parma in the race to sign Japhet Tanganga, according to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.
Tottenham confirmed earlier this month that the defender will leave the club this summer once his contract expires, putting a number of Championship clubs on alert.
Millwall, where Tanganga spent the second half of last season on loan, and Luton are among the suitors, as reported by Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas earlier this week.
Thomas also mentioned a number of Serie A clubs were monitoring the defender and Parma have now seemingly joined the race.
Parma join Japhet Tanganga race
According to Di Marzio, Parma have held talks with Tanganga’s agent as they look to bolster their squad after returning to Serie A for the first time in nine years last season.
The report also notes that while the club have held discussions with Tanganga’s representatives, signing the Tottenham defender is currently not a priority for Parma manager Fabio Pecchia.
Tanganga was one of the few positive notes in an otherwise difficult season for Millwall and made enough of an impression there for the Lions to try and strike another agreement to bring him back to The Den.
Having just missed out on the play-offs in the 2022-23 season, Millwall finished 13th last term with results only improving once Neil Harris was brought back to SE16.
Tanganga started 17 of his 18 Championship appearances for the Lions, averaging 1.4 interceptions, 1.2 tackles per game and 3.4 ball recoveries per game, according to data by Sofascore.com.
Neil Harris wants to sign Tanganga this summer
He helped the Lions keep five clean sheets and also contributed at the other end of the pitch by scoring twice and Harris will be desperate to sign the defender permanently in the upcoming transfer window.
“The whole football club is a big fan of Japhet Tanganga,” Harris told London News Online last week.
“I think I have made that clear in previous articles – I would love to work with him. Japhet is a player who will be in demand over this transfer window.
“As a football club, sometimes, we can only push as far when we go through a process which is involving individuals, agents and football clubs.
The successful spell at Milwall was a much-needed confidence boost for Tanganga, coming off the back of a disastrous loan to Bundesliga club FC Augsburg.
A knee injury ruled Tanganga out for the first two months of the season, and he returned to Spurs in January, having not played a minute of football for the German side.
| Japhet Tanganga’s 2023-24 Millwall stats, per Transfermarkt.com | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | 18 | ||
| Starts | 17 | ||
| Goals | 2 | ||
| Assists | – | ||
| Clean sheets | 5 | ||
| Yellow cards | 3 | ||
| Red cards | 1 | ||
Tanganga’s Spurs career never took off
His departure from Tottenham comes as something of a surprise, as he came through the youth ranks at Spurs and made his senior debut in the 2019-20 season.
But despite showing glimpses of potential, he remained on the fringes of the squad, not helped by a managerial carousel that saw him play under four different permanent managers – Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.
While the 25-year-old’s familiarity with Millwall and the fact he wouldn’t have to leave London tip the scale in the Lions’ favour, Luton are also an attractive prospect as they are expected to be among the promotion contenders.
Similarly, a move to Kenilworth would also allow him to remain in London, his hometown.
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