Tottenham face stiff competition to sign desired transfer target

Tottenham has Aymeric Laporte in its crosshairs, but Ange Postecoglou and company face stiff competition in their pursuit of the Manchester City center-back. 

Spurs’ rumoured interest in Laporte makes sense. He is a high-profile center-back who checks all the boxes to fit into Postecoglou’s 4-3-3 formation seamlessly.

Laporte is a superb left-footed, ball-moving central defender. He is an excellent one-on-one defender with decent initial acceleration, perfect attributes for a spot in the spine of Postecoglou’s team.

He’d also fit well alongside Cristian Romero, who has altogether different yet complementary attributes.

Laporte is valued at just over £25 million on Transfermarkt, though the would-be suitor might have to pay in excess of £30 million to land their man.

Even his £120,000 weekly salary is palatable, making him a dream target for Spurs.

However, Barcelona also highly desires Laporte, who desperately needs a center-back of the Spaniard’s skill set.

So starved for a decent marshal, Xavi was, for a brief period, forced to utilize former Chelsea left-back Marcos Alonso as a makeshift center-back.

That’s a horrifying prospect, especially for a team of Barcelona’s prestige.

Even worse, Laporte is said to prefer a move abroad, specifically back to his homeland. And that usually bears the most significant weight regarding where a transfer target ends up.

There is a silver lining for Spurs.

The Catalonian giants are in all sorts of financial turmoil, which could scupper the potential transfer. Then again, Barcelona often sources the funds from somewhere, conceivably stashed under the mattress of more prominent club members.

The primary transfer bloke on campus, Fabrizio Romano, has kept quiet on any prospective deal for Laporte, so, for now, optimism pervades the north London air.

For how long is anyone’s guess.