Tottenham look for cover in Dortmund defender

By Ryan Wrenn | Jun 8, 2017

ST GALLEN, SWITZERLAND - JULY 25: Matthias Ginter of Dortmund controls the ball during the friendly match between Juventus and Borussia Dortmund on July 25, 2015 in St Gallen, Switzerland. (Photo by Daniel Kopatsch/Getty Images) /

In the flurry of reports that link Tottenham with any number of unneeded attacking midfielders, it can be refreshing to read a rumor that actually makes sense for the club.

Though Harry Kane certainly helps, arguably the most important part of this Tottenham team is its defense, specifically Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier.

Those four players are most responsible for the lowest amount of goals conceded in the Premier League this season and, to boot, often find ways to contribute meaningfully to both the midfield and attack.

If Tottenham had one glaring defensive weakness this term, it was a clear lack of meaningful depth. Dier stepped up after spending a season in midfield and performed admirably, but when Mauricio Pochettino switched to three centre-backs the bench became decidedly threadbare.

Indeed, when Vertonghen went down injured in January, Pochettino’s only option was to abandon the three-at-the-back scheme entirely in favor or a more traditional 4-2-3-1. The team struggled with re-adapting at first but — eventually — made it work. That shouldn’t be something Pochettino asks his team to do in the middle of the season however.

Which is why stories like this one passed on by the Guardian mean so much to Tottenham’s development next season.

According to that report, Spurs are looking into acquiring Borussia Dortmund’s 23-year-old centre-back Matthias Ginter.

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This makes perfect sense, and not just because the club previously made noises about Ginter last summer. He checks all the boxes. He’s still relatively young, but has plenty of experience already. This past season was his second as a presumed starter for Dortmund.

More importantly, he’s multi-faceted. Though he specializes at centre-back, throughout his career he’s dabbled at right-back and defensive midfield. He is, in effect, the German answer to Dier.

With Spurs facing a second consecutive season in the Champions League, recruiting ready-to-feature players like Ginter is absolutely vital. No longer can the club rely on the likes of Kevin Wimmer to help supplement their commitments in multiple competitions.

That difference between Wimmer and Ginter is illustrative for our purposes here, and reflects how the club has changed over the last two seasons.

Wimmer came from FC Koln in the Bundesliga, having helped earn them promotion then impressed in his first season in the German top flight. Though Koln managed to stay up, it wasn’t necessarily operating on an elite level — at least not as elite as, say, Bayern Munich or Dortmund.

Ginter, in contrast, has played a role in each of Dortmund’s campaigns in the Bundesliga and Champions League/Europa League since 2014. He’s very familiar with that level of competition, and the often quick turn around time between them.

The gulf in quality also comes with a gulf in transfer fees, of course. Whereas Wimmer cost a shade over £4 million, Ginter will reportedly cost closer to three times that.

Such an amount still represents a deal, however, and Spurs would be wise to pounce while the getting is still good.

The club under Daniel Levy are notorious about doing quite the opposite however, taking their time as fees and specifics are worked out — sometimes over the course of months.

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That’s a habit that has lost them some potentially important players though, and it needs reforming. The haste at which Spurs move for Ginter — assuming it happens at all — might be the clearest sign yet that things are changing around Mr. Levy’s club thanks to Pochettino.