Man Utd star overlooked, as Tottenham prepare game-changing double swoop that’ll see three forced out
Micky van de Ven and Edmond Tapsoba are Tottenham transfrer targets
Tottenham are eyeing two additions at centre-back and after narrowing down their shortlist, a Man Utd target Erik ten Hag is desperate to shift has been ignored, per reports.
Spurs conceded an eye-watering 63 goals in the Premier League alone last season. That mark was sixth-worst in the division, with the teams that conceded more finishing in 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th and 20th.
Clearly, change is required and the first step will come in the tactical shift employed by new boss Ange Postecoglou.
The ex-Celtic manager is expected to revert from a back five to a back four when fielding his customary 4-3-3 formation.
Postecoglou will oversee an uptick in intensity from front to back and the Australian also favours a possession-based game.
As such, fielding centre-halves who are extremely comfortable on the ball is a must. To that end, a new centre-half or two was always likely to be on the agenda this summer.
According to Football London, Postecoglou will be allowed to sign two new centre-backs and the shortlist of targets has seemingly been narrowed down to three candidates.
The likes of Marc Guehi and Harry Maguire had drawn links with Spurs earlier in the window. Indeed, both the Daily Mail and Telegraph listed Tottenham as being interested in Maguire last month.
With money tight at Old Trafford this summer, ESPN reported Erik ten Hag is open to cashing in on the England international. Doing so would boost the club’s transfer kitty, with a dream triple coup for Andre Onana, Mason Mount and Harry Kane wanted.
However, when listing who Tottenham are pursuing, Maguire was not mentioned a single time in Football London’s update.
Instead, the three players in Spurs’ sights are Edmond Tapsoba (Bayer Leverkusen), Micky van de Ven (Wolfsburg) and Tosin Adarabioyo (Fulham).
The report states Spurs’ aims this summer were to sign ‘a new goalkeeper, two central defenders, a central attacking midfielder and a young winger’.
Guglielmo Vicario has ticked the first box, while James Maddison is the club’s new playmaker. Attention will now shift to overhauling the defence and two from Adarabioyo, Van de Ven and Tapsoba are wanted.
All three are believed to mesh well with the tactical requirements of Postecoglou. They’re all comfortable in possession, pacy, good in the air and strong in one-v-ones.
Price tags revealed; three to be axed
Arsenal were quoted a price tag of £60m when enquiring into Tapsoba back in January of 2022. Van de ven is expected to fetch Wolfsburg around €30m (£26m).
Adarabioyo, meanwhile, might be the cheapest of the lot given he’s now entered the final 12 months of his contract at Fulham.
In the event Spurs do successfully land two new centre-halves, Football London concluded it could be curtains for Davinson Sanchez, Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga. Tanganga is understood to be on Atalanta’s watchlist, per Gazzetta dello Sport.
Cristian Romero is safe, while Eric Dier will be retained despite his deal only having one year left to run.
