Pundit: Public announcement made as Tottenham prepares to seal £80 million for defender

A pundit believes that Tottenham are “making it known” they want to sign an up and coming English defender for manager Ange Postecoglou this summer.

Postecoglou admits to wanting new centre-back at Spurs

Back in March, Postecoglou admitted that Spurs will be targeting a new centre-back, despite already bringing in Radu Dragusin to the tune of £25 million in January.

Dragusin joins a defensive contingent of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven at the heart of Postecoglou’s defence already, meaning another signing would take the number of star senior central defenders at Spurs to four.

Despite this, Postecoglou claimed that work has already begun on potentially bringing in another centre-back, as well as reinforcing other areas of the pitch.

“If you’re saying, ‘Is it an area we can strengthen?’, yes it’s an area we will probably look at”, Postecoglou on signing another defender.

Tottenham’s best-performing defenders in the Premier League last season	Average match rating per 90 (via WhoScored)
Pedro Porro	7.04
Cristian Romero	7.03
Micky van de Ven	6.79
Destiny Udogie	6.71
Ben Davies	6.62

“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.”

In terms of the named targets, Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly has attracted Spurs interest, and it is believed Tottenham made an offer to Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo. This would make sense, as both would be cost-effective given their soon-to-be free agent status.

However, a much more marquee option to be sporadically mentioned comes in the form of Everton starlet Jarrad Branthwaite. After an exceptional season at Goodison Park, the Englishman has been named in Gareth Southgate’s provisional squad for Euro 2024, with the Toffees valuing him at around £80 million.

Pundit says Tottenham are making it known they want Branthwaite

Speaking to Tottenham News, pundit John Wenham has shared his belief that Tottenham are “making it known” they want to sign Branthwaite – but admits that there are a few roadblocks in Spurs’ way of a potential deal.

“Tottenham are clearly making it known that they are interested,” Wenham said.

“However, I can’t see that deal happening. Central defence is probably where we have our strongest options, whereas United are lacking quality in that position. It would make more sense for Branthwaite to go to Old Trafford, and with the figures that are being brandished, I think United are more likely to sign him.”