Friends, the updates have been coming thick and fast this week and it’s been a little hard to keep up. So instead of individual articles, let’s just talk about all of the rumors and news that surrounds Tottenham Hotspur central defenders, both current and potential.
Let’s start with the incoming rumors. There’s not a lot of new news here, but there are a few updates from various sources, mostly Fabrizio Romano. Spurs appear to have consolidated their shortlist of central defender targets to three main candidates: Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba, Wolfsburg’s Micky van de Ven, and Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo. Of those, active negotiations are apparently happening with Tapsoba and van de Ven. It’s not clear which defender is a top target, or if they’re going to be going with more than one incoming player.
EXCL: Tottenham have opened direct talks with Wolfsburg for Micky van de Ven. Dutch centre back is among top targets. ⚪️ #THFC
Verbal proposal set to be submitted as van de Ven is keen on the move.
Edmond Tapsoba remains among options on Spurs list — but he’s more expensive. pic.twitter.com/BOMs1qHFa6
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 28, 2023
This is kind of similar to what we called the “Paratici scattergun” method of transfers, where the club goes after a number of targets and then just pulls the trigger on the one they really want late in the process. But if you asked me which player(s) they’re going to end up signing, I couldn’t tell you.
But this shortlist does mean that Clement Lenglet is unlikely to sign permanently with Spurs and will return to Barcelona. That’s at least according to the Daily Mail’s transfer tracker, which I won’t link to because you shouldn’t be reading it, but it’s also kinda plausible so I’ll at least mention it here.
Now, let’s check in on the current players. Charlie Eccleshire, writing in The Athletic’s transfer tracker page (£), says that Tottenham defender Eric Dier is set to return from groin surgery in time to start preseason preparations with Spurs, which implies that he’s probably not going to be sold this summer. Truthfully, this is fine, since as far as I’m concerned the fact he had played through an injury ever since the World Cup is a mitigating factor when it comes to his performances in the back half of the season. And even with Spurs bringing 1-2 new defenders into the team, having Eric Dier around as an experienced fourth choice CB isn’t that bad, folks. This is fine, and not “the house is burning fine.” Actual fine.
The last rumor is from Gaston Edul, an Argentinan journalist, who tweeted that Juventus are “interested” in Cuti Romero.
I bet they are, and there have been murmurs that Cuti’s not happy with what happened last season. That said, Juventus are also mega mondo super broke at the moment and there’s zero chance that Spurs sell him this summer. This reads like agent sourced nonsense, and we can safely ignore it.
That’s it from centerback land, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
