Topics: Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan, Ivan Perisic
The Premier League club have secured their first signing ahead of the summer transfer window.

Croatian winger Ivan Perisic has secured a free transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, a statement by the club confirmed on Tuesday. The 33-year-old joins the Premier League on a two-year contract, having opted against signing a contract extension at Inter Milan.

Perisic has been at Inter Milan since 2015 and was instrumental in the club's Scudetto-winning run under Antoinio Conte last season. Prior to that, he spent the after spending the 2019-20 season on loan at Bayern Munich where he won the Champions League with the Bavarians. 

Before the season ended, Inter Milan chief executive Giuseppe Marotta revealed that the club was keen on keeping Perisic at the club. However, he admitted that the player held all the chips to decide his future with a number of clubs having expressed interest in securing his service. On Tuesday, Tottenham Hotspur released statement annoucing the signing of the Croatian and it is believed that manager Antonio Conte played a key role in convincing the attacker to complete the switch.

"We are delighted to announce the transfer of Ivan Perisic," the statement read.

"The vastly experienced Croatia international will join the Club on 1 July following the expiration of his contract at Internazionale and has agreed a deal that will run until 2024."

Perisic expressed his delight in securing the transfer to Spurs, citing the fact that the club's qualification to the Champions League played a key role in his decision to move. 

"When I got in contact with the coach and the sporting director, I told them I had really wanted to come to the Premier League since 2009 when I started playing professional football in Belgium," Perisic told Spurs' official website.

"It's a privilege to work with a coach like Antonio. It was a perfect year at Inter, I am very pleased to see him again. He lives football every minute, every hour and every day, even when he's sleeping he's thinking about it. 

"I was watching the last two or three games and, after the win against Arsenal, it was obvious Tottenham would reach the Champions League, and it was good for me because I want to play in the biggest games."