Sporting director identifies targets during scouting trip to Chelsea and Tottenham

Jan Vertonghen (below) was reportedly being scouted by Inter's sporting director last night

INTER sporting director Piero Ausilio was in London this week to scout out new recruits for the January transfer window, according to reports in Italy.

Ausilio went to Chelsea's 2-1 Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday.

But it was Tottenham's Europa League clash last night that was his main purpose for the visit.

For Gazzetta dello Sport claim Ausilio was at White Hart Lane to assess defender Jan Vertonghen and attacking midfielder Erik Lamela.

Vertonghen, 28, has started all but two of Spurs' 16 games this season.

The Belgium international, a £12million signing from Ajax in 2012, would reportedly provide Miranda and Jeison Murillo with competition at the back for Inter.

Lamela, meanwhile, was expected to leave Spurs during the summer but was kept on as manager Mauricio Pochettino sought to retain some depth to his attack.

The Argentine has impressed in Europe with two goals from four outings and played the full 90 minutes in Spurs' 2-1 win over Anderlecht.

 

Piero Ausilio (left) was in London this week as Inter prepare targets for January

 

Erik Lamela is another player said to be on Inter's radar

Gazzetta claim Anderlecht youngster Youri Tielemans is also on Inter's radar.

Tielemans has been scouted by some of the biggest clubs in Europe, with Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal all keen on the £8m-rated midfielder.

The previous night at Stamford Bridge, Ausilio kept tabs on Kiev defenders Aleksandar Dragovic and Domagoj Vida - but won't have been impressed by Dragovic's own goal in the first half.

 

There is plenty of talk at the San Siro of Inter spending big money this January in effort to bolster their title challenge.

The club sit joint top of the Serie A with Fiorentina and crucially do not have any European distractions for this season.

Yesterday owner Erick Thohir rubbished claims Roberto Mancini's job was on the line, with reports emerging that Jose Mourinho would be interested in the post should he be sacked by Chelsea.

"We have a project that has been worked on for four or five years and the first thing is that we want to return to the Champions League,” Thohir said.

“The last two seasons have been so-so, but our aim was the Europa League.

“This year we want to return at all costs to the Champions League and Mancini and the players are aware of that. For the Scudetto, there are still another 27 games to go.

"The directors, Mancini and (shareholder Massimo) Moratti are all involved in the project. We are going in the right direction."