As Fabio Paratici and Nuno Espirito Santo settle in at Tottenham Hotspur, the talk about transfers is picking back up, starting with center back.
After the struggles keeping clean sheets the last two seasons for Tottenham Hotspur, there is no doubt it is time for changes with the Spurs defensively. The Lilywhites can ultimately do either of two things or both to address the team’s deficiencies. The Spurs can make over the players who play the center-half position and/or change the formation.
A new defender for the Spurs?
The Premier League transfer window has now been open for nearly a month and the markets in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy all opened on July 1, so it is really time for some business to begin. With Santo in charge, a move to a back three may occur, but regardless Tottenham needs to make over the unit. Here are the current rumors regarding the Spurs at center back.
Some rumors will never go away for Tottenham
In just the last 10 days, there have been four names floating around. Of course, Joachim Andersen continues to be connected with the club in the category of rumors that will not die. Nearly two months ago we were touting a look at Tosin Adarabioyo over Andersen if you want to take a center back from Fulham as the face relegation.
However, the Daily Mail has Spurs as the frontrunner for Andersen in their latest news as well as predicting a Tottenham double buy. However, it is not Andersen’s club teammate Adarabioyo they are suggesting, rather it is the Danishman’s national teammate Jannik Vestergaard.
Vestergaard is on contract for only one more season at Southampton until 2022 and at 28-years-old is currently in his prime. However, Tottenham has not always gone after the older finished player as much as the younger player with transfer sell-on value, like the other two players being connected with Tottenham.
Two more for Tottenham to consider
According to the Evening Standard, Tottenham has been in talks with Bologna for 22-year-old defender Takehiro Tomiyasu. As our Gary Pearson recently discussed, Spurs are inching their way toward signing the Japan international. Tomiyasu has loads of professional experience despite his young age, logging more than 13,000 professional minutes already including over 5,200 in Serie A.
Tomiyasu was primarily a right-back in his two seasons in Italy, playing 40 out of 60 Serie A matches at the position. Takehiro did play 18 games at center-back and even two at left-back displaying real versatility. That kind of flexibility may indicate a desire to play with a back three and have an athletic, versatile center half on the right.
Whereas Tomiyasu would likely need some seasoning and adjustment, Jules Kounde is a young-experienced defender, who can likely step in and play immediately. Takehiro has many of his 13,000+ minutes in the lower leagues of Japan, whereas Kounde has most of his minutes in Ligue 1 and La Liga, having played over 10,000 combined minutes in the two competitions.
Kounde has almost exclusively played at center-back as well, logging only three matches, out of nearly 120 in Spain and France, at the position. Of course, more than any of the other defenders linked with Spurs to date, Kounde will take a really big bid to land.
Are spurs still missing the mark on the targets?
These are all interesting links for Tottenham but may not address the biggest need directly in terms of a naturally left-footed defender to support the plethora of right-sided defenders in the Tottenham squad. Vestergaard is considered ambidextrous but as we saw for a decade with Jan Vertonghen at N17, there is real value in a true left-sided defender.
Ultimately, Tottenham is not likely to make any incoming moves at center back until some people move out. In the same Daily Mail article linking Andersen and Vestergaard to Tottenham, they have Toby Alderweireld on his way out. While not the first defender I would want to sell, clearly Tottenham needs to move some people and freshen up.
Of the four linked Tomiyasu seems the most likely as the price is affordable, his age is good, and it would give Spurs another foothold in the Asian market besides Heung-Min Son. Seems like a win-all-around, now Paratici needs to get some things done.