Fabrizio Romano has refused to rule Tottenham out in the race for a £56 million defender this summer, coming after he was actually "in talks" to join last year.
Postecoglou admits Spurs could sign another centre-back
Ange Postecoglou, speaking to the press last month, admitted that his side could actually end up going for another centre-back when the window reopens.
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While the Lilywhites are thought to be after a new striker and potential Harry Kane replacement, as well as Spurs targeting a new winger and centre-midfielder, it is believed another central defender is high on the agenda despite Radu Dragusin's arrival.
The Romanian arrived from Genoa for around £25 million in the January window, and has provided back-up to star defender Micky van de Ven at the heart of Postecoglou's defence. However, some believe van de Ven may well be used as a wildcard left-back option after Destiny Udogie's season-ending injury, so perhaps we could be seeing more of Dragusin in the final few games.
In any case, Postecoglou was forthright in admitting to Tottenham's desire to sign yet another new centre-half later this year: “If you’re saying, ‘Is it an area we can strengthen?’, yes it’s an area we will probably look at”, the Tottenham manager said.
“With all these things, it’s about trying to strengthen the group as much as anything else. If you think about when I first arrived, we had maybe six or seven centre-backs at the club. So it’s not just numbers. It’s more about the ability of those players to play the football we want and to fit in to what we’re trying to build here.
“I think it is an area of the park we will look to strengthen, but I think we’ll look to strengthen all areas of the park come the end of the season. That is planning that’s already underway, and other people are in charge of it at the moment.”
Before Spurs completed a deal for van de Ven last summer, they were heavily linked with a move for Bayer Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba, who supporters may well remember. The Burkina Faso international, now fresh off the back of a title-winning season at Leverkusen, was "in talks" to join Spurs last year according to Fabrizio Romano at the time.
Romano teases potential Spurs move for Tapsoba
Speaking to CaughtOffside, Romano has teased that Spurs could be back in the running for Tapsoba after scouts from England were sent to watch the "frightening" defender recently – rumoured to cost around £56 million.
Borussia Monchengladbach 0-3 Leverkusen
7.81
Leverkusen 3-0 Bayern Munich
7.80
Leverkusen 5-0 Werder Bremen
7.73
Stuttgart 1-1 Leverkusen
7.63
Mainz 05 0-3 Leverkusen
7.61
“Scouts from three top clubs were in attendance to watch Edmond Tapsoba in yesterday’s [Mondays] game for Bayer Leverkusen away to Borussia Dortmund," said Romano.
"The centre-back looks like he could be one to watch for this summer as he’s attracting interest, though it’s still early in this story. Tottenham also showed an interest in Tapsoba in the past, but let’s see if they enter the running again."