Exclusive: Tottenham turn attention to top Bundesliga and Serie A stars to add much-needed centre-back depth

Tottenham are keen to add a new centre-back in January in an effort to solve their defensive crisis and are keeping an eye on targets at Bournemouth, Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Fulham but are willing to expand their search beyond the Premier League, TEAMtalk can reveal.

Spurs have been prioritising a deal for a new centre-back and that need has been underlined as they attempt to deal with suspensions to Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie, while Micky van de Ven undergoes scans to discover the extent of any problem he suffered in Monday night’s 4-1 defeat to Chelsea.

The north London side have been looking at situations surrounding Lloyd Kelly of Bournemouth, Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah, Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo in recent months as they seek a new option for 2024 – yet sources have told TEAMtalk they will also opening up their search outside of the Premier League in the hope they can find a perfect solution for January.

Kelly is unlikely to be available for sale in January, TEAMtalk has been told, while Guehi is unsure about the advantages of making a mid-season move. Chalobah and Adarabioyo may yet prove to be more attainable but Spurs have other avenues to explore outside of England.

Scouts have tracked Ko Itakura of Borussia Monchengladbach, dating back to a good spell at Schalke, but the Japanese international has picked up an injury recently at a time when Tottenham were ready to revisit him with a form check.

Germany is a potential shopping destination where Spurs do believe they could find an ideal candidate to help them move forward in their team build for Postecoglou. But the Italian market is also of interest with Juventus’ Gleison Bremer and Torino’s Perr Schuurs among other checks to have been made this year. Bremer wants to stay at Juventus and Schuurs has now also been hit by injury, suffering a cruciate knee ligament blow.

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Dier back in favour but hunt carries on

The search will now continue but Postecoglou is refusing to panic over his selection dilemma ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against Wolves – even though he has a big decision to make over his central pairing.

Eric Dier is set to come into the side and Spurs will have the option of two 18-year-old talents to consider in the shape of Ashley Phillips and Alfie Dorrington. But they also have more experienced considerations to make, and some sources feel Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will be up for the role.

Dorrington and Phillips are very much thought of as future first-team players and in signing new talent going forward the club will look to ensure their pathway remains open. Phillips is currently better built for senior football and has experience from Blackburn of first-team action but Dorrington may yet be loaned out to help him gain the needed experience before breaking into the first team.

Dier’s cameo against Chelsea was his first appearance of the season for Spurs, having been an unused substitute in their last three league games before the derby match. Reports have emerged recently that the defender wants to move on from the London club.

His current contract is set to expire in the summer after joining in 2014 but Dier has fallen down the pecking order under Postecoglou. However, with the latest injury crisis, Dier is set for a run of starts in the first team.

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