Tottenham are set to send goalkeeper Luke McGee out on loan but want another understudy in place before giving the green light, according to the Sun.
The print edition of the newspaper (Sunday 9 July, page 65) claims that League One club Portsmouth lead the race to take the 21-year-old for the 2017-18 season.
The Sun report that Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino is happy for McGee to get more senior playing experience next season but wants another goalkeeper as cover before sanctioning his exit.
It is said that Pochettino has instructed the club’s scouts to find a new goalkeeper to back up senior pair Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm.
One possible arrival is experienced lower league performer Jon McLaughlin, who is a free agent after his three-year spell at Burton Albion came to an end last month.
McLaughlin, 29, was Burton’s number one for most of that time and started all but three of the Championship club’s matches in their maiden campaign in the division.
The ex-Bradford keeper could no head to White Hart Lane and take the place of McGee, who was pictured back in pre-season training at the start of the week after his potential transfer to Peterborough collapsed.
Spurs academy product McGee made a huge impression on loan at the ABAX Stadium in the 2016-17 League One campaign, scooping the Posh players’ player-of-the-year prize after keeping 10 clean sheets in 45 appearances in all competitions.
Extensive negotiations took place with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy about a permanent deal but the League One outfit’s director of football Barry Fry said last month that their pursuit of the player had been abandoned.
“I spoke to Daniel Levy myself and he said that they’ll most probably sell him, but it won’t be until August,” Fry said to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. “I passed the message on to the manager and the chairman, and they have told me to move on.”
McGee, who has never played for Tottenham’s first team, has a contract with the club that runs until 2019.