Tottenham draw up transfer shortlist as Johan Lange assigned January mission
Johan Lange's first significant act as Tottenham sporting director will be to source a new centre-back for Ange Postecoglou in the January transfer window. Cristian Romero's suspension and Micky van de Ven's hamstring injury has highlighted the thirst for defensive reinforcements this winter.
Spurs are yet to replace Davinson Sanchez following his transfer to Galatasaray while Roma and Sporting have been earmarked as potential suitors for Eric Dier, whose contract expires next summer.
Ideally, Daniel Levy plans to command a fee for Dier this January but the England international prefers to see out the final months of his deal in north London so that he can depart on a free transfer and negotiate a bigger contract elsewhere next season.
Tottenham are already battling AC Milan and Juventus for Bournemouth's Lloyd Kelly after seeing a £20million bid knocked back on deadline day.
The Cherries will be forced to consider offers for Kelly when the transfer window reopens as he has no intention of extending his stay at the Vitality Stadium. But Spurs are also long-term admirers of Bayer Leverkusen's Edmond Tapsoba and Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi, who will not come cheap.
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Leverkusen are currently flying high in the Bundesliga and while Palace are aware that Guehi is not short of interest, they do not want to weaken their squad halfway through the current season. Tapsoba's Leverkusen team-mate Piero Hincapie has also been heavily scouted in the past 12 months.
Torino's Perr Schuurs is another name that has proven popular amongst Tottenham's transfer committee but the Dutchman suffered a serious knee injury in late October. So far, Levy has only spent £47.5m of the initial £86.4m Tottenham received from Bayern Munich for Harry Kane's marquee summer transfer following the acquisition of Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest.
Marc Guehi has impressed during a two-year spell with Crystal Palace (Getty Images)That means there should be plenty of cash for Spurs to play with this winter as they seek to prioritise strengthening Postecoglou's backline. The 58-year-old wanted to bring in another central defender during the summer transfer window but the club were unable to find a suitable target before the deadline.
Although he was reluctant to let Sanchez leave for Istanbul without getting a replacement through the door, Postecoglou later declared he respected the long-term contract offer the Colombia international had received from the Turkish giants. The Aussie boss will have the final say on all potential new arrivals and Tottenham could also seek to bolster their options in midfield.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is attracting interest from Juventus and Atletico Madrid and the Dane wants to explore a mid-season transfer due to his lack of minutes this season. That said, Tottenham are mindful that they're due to lose Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma to the Africa Cup of Nations in January and therefore, they will only sanction Hojbjerg's departure if they can land a suitable replacement for the former Southampton captain.
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