The Premier League club confirmed that the versatile 33-year-old, whose contract with Inter Milan expired at the end of the season, had signed a two-year deal.
Tottenham Hotspur began their squad strengthening ahead of a return to the Champions League by signing experienced Croatia international Ivan Perisic on a free transfer on Tuesday.
Perisic becomes manager Antonio Conte’s first major close-season signing as the north London club prepare for a return to Europe’s elite, having finished fourth in the Premier League.
“I’m really excited to start with the Spurs family,” Perisic told the club’s website. “I’ve really wanted to come here to the Premier League since 2009 when I started in professional football in Belgium, and I can’t wait.”
The move sees Perisic reunited with Conte, who he played under when Inter won the Serie A title in 2020-21.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him again. He lives football, every minute, every hour, every day, even when he’s sleeping I think he’s thinking about football. I like his character and know he’s going to do a great job here.”
Ivan began his career in the youth academies of Hajduk Split and Sochaux before a short loan spell at KSV Roeselare in Belgium.
In 2009, he joined Club Brugge, where, in only his second season, he was the league’s top scorer and was named Belgium’s Footballer of the Year.
A move to Germany followed in 2011, with Ivan winning the Bundesliga and German Cup – DFB-Pokal in his first season at Borussia Dortmund, before adding a second DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup following a move to VfL Wolfsburg in 2013.
Two-and-a-half years later, he signed for Inter, starting games and scoring regularly for the Italian club until he returned to Germany with a season-long loan at Bayern Munich in 2019/20, where he became a UEFA Champions League winner as well as lifting a second Bundesliga and third DFB-Pokal title of his career as part of Bayern’s treble-winning side.
He returned to Inter ahead of the following season, where he played under Antonio Conte, showing his versatility by performing as a wing-back as well as a forward as the Nerazzurri won the Serie A title.
He continued his fine form into the 2021/22 season, registering ten goals and nine assists in all competitions on the way to winning the Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.
At the international level, Ivan has made 113 appearances for his country to date, scoring 32 goals. An ever-present for his national team, he played a crucial role in Croatia’s route to the World Cup final in Russia in 2018 – the first in the country’s history. He scored in the final, but his side finished as runners-up to Hugo Lloris’ France.
