Tottenham Hotspur might not be willing to pay up for Erik Lamela and/or Miralem Pjanic in the end, but apparently their interest in at least one of the two players is very real. According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, who works primarily for Sky Italia, the two sides are in intense negotiations.

Here's what he had to say, in Italian:

Sabatini ha.incontrato a Londra anche il dt del Tottenham Franco Baldini. Sul tavolo Pjanic e Lamela, due calciatori che agli Spurs possono interessare a determinate condizioni. Il tutto se Osvaldo non dovesse partire. Al momento soltanto dei colloqui interlocutori. La Roma rientra dall'Inghilterra. Sono ore.

For those who lack Italian skills and translate machines, Baldini and Sabatini are meeting about Pjanic and Lamela, who will be of interest to Spurs under "certain conditions". My guess is that the potential sales of Gareth Bale and/or Andros Townsend are related to those "conditions".

For those unfamiliar with the stylings of Mr. Di Marzio -- and that won't be any of our regular readers at this point -- he's a throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks guy. He obviously has legitimate sources, but he runs with stuff early and often. If he says Baldini and Sabatini are meeting, they're meeting for realsies, but that's all we can really know.