Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte will be hoping to have money available in the January transfer window to upgrade their options at left-sided centre-back.
This has been suggested by the journalist Pete O’Rourke who has been speaking to This Is Futbol about the north London club’s plans for the January window.
Spurs will be pleased to see the World Cup break following a number of weeks which has taken its toll on their defensive record which was in good shape leading up to the last month of action.
The Lilywhites had kicked off the 2022/23 campaign in style defensively but in the last eight games across all competitions, Conte’s men have conceded 15 goals.
And with the January window now on the horizon, O’Rourke expects the central defender position to be one in which Fabio Paratici has on his radar to strengthen across the winter window:
“I think Tottenham ideally would like to have done the left-sided centre-back in the summer. But yeah, Conte will be hoping money will be available to try and improve in that position,” O’Rourke said.
TIF Thoughts on O’Rourke’s comments…
Spurs had looked to seriously improve their defensive options in the summer with Alessandro Bastoni but were forced to bring in Clement Lenglet on a season-long loan from Barcelona.
Do Spurs need to upgrade Eric Dier?
Yes
No
And although Lenglet has been by no means a disaster, it is apparent the Frenchman was brought in as a potential stop-gap solution until they could make another attempt for someone of Bastoni’s quality.
But it is apparent there is still work needed to be done. It feels as if Cristian Romero is the only player who is capable of becoming a world-class centre-back at the moment.
However, the Argentine is very rarely fit for a long run of games which does seem to leave this defence stretched with Eric Dier recently pushed along to right-sided centre-back.