Tottenham are eyeing a last-gasp signing from overseas in the final days of the Premier League window, according to Football London.
The Trinity Mirror site claim Spurs are targeting “at least one foreign move” before Thursday’s cut-off, which could trigger the exits of four senior players at some point this month.
Football London report Champions League rules state Spurs have 20 non-locally trained players when only 17 can be registered, meaning Mauricio Pochettino would have sell four of his foreign players just to be able to register one new arrival from abroad.
OPINION
It is intriguing that Pochettino wants a last-ditch foreign signing, with the positions of centre-back and forward likely to be those he is looking for new blood, particularly if Toby Alderweireld leaves in the next three days. Certainly, Spurs would need to replace the Belgium international, even though Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez were a reliable pairing in the final months of last season, Eric Dier can drop back successfully to defence and Juan Foyth is highly rated by his manager as an emerging centre-back. As for a quartet of exits, that is certainly possible as the window to sell players in most European leagues is open until 31 August, meaning the likes of Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele, Fernando Llorente, Vincent Janssen, Moussa Sissoko, Danny Rose and Georges-Kevin NKoudou have weeks to sort out moves overseas. Spurs would rather be in a position of strength, with a new player sealed and signed, rather than offloading a big name and scrabbling for a replacement in the final hours of Thursday’s window.