The Lilywhites’ transfer plans are beginning to take shape for January.
Tottenham are continuing to draw up their list of centre-back transfer targets this winter, and an interesting new name has surfaced.
Van de Ven injured until 2024
Spurs’ plans to sign a left-footed alternative to star summer signing Micky van de Ven have accelerated recently, following the defender’s recent hamstring injury.
Van de Ven limped off in a 4-1 defeat to Chelsea just over two weeks ago, dealing a hammer blow to manager Ange Postecoglou who’ll be without the pacey central defender until 2024.
He had formed an exceptional partnership with Cristian Romero at the heart of Postecoglou’s defence, which was a major factor in Tottenham’s previously unbeaten start to the new Premier League season.
Spurs wanted another centre-back after van de Ven in the summer, with the club making a late deadline day attempt to sign Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth which came to no avail.
However, van de Ven’s absence highlights their stark lack of depth in the position, and has motivated Tottenham to target new options in January.
Spurs eye new centre-back for Ange
Cherries star Kelly, Uruguay star Sebastian Caceres, Everton’s Ben Godfrey, Crystal Palace ace Marc Guehi, Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah, Genoa’s Radu Dragusin and Union Saint-Gilloise centre-back Koki Machida are all on Tottenham’s radar, according to reports in the last few weeks.
Any one of the aforementioned may well come in to shore up Postecoglou’s options in central defence, which could be seen as a must, given Spurs are currently reliant on the likes of Eric Dier and Ben Davies.
The former was heavily out of favour at Tottenham before their 4-1 loss to Chelsea, when he came on for van de Ven and played his first minutes of the entire campaign. It will be very interesting to see who the north Londoners opt to bring in for Postecoglou, with news coming to light this week on a new name in Benfica star Morato.
Tottenham could look to sign Morato
New Lilywhites sporting director Johan Lange is apparently at work on identifying defensive targets for January, and the Brazilian is someone who they could look towards. Morato’s limited chances could open the door for him to leave, having featured more in the Champions League than Liga Portugal this term.
The 21-year-old is seen as a player who could excel in Postecoglou’s passing system. Morato also has the physical capabilities to be an asset in the Premier League, standing at a towering 6 foot 3.
He’s also viewed as technically “superior” to van de Ven, according to The Daily Mail, who claim Tottenham are eyeing Morato as an alternative cover man to the Dutchman.
While the South American ace hasn’t featured much this season, he’s still amassed around 60 appearances for Benfica since making his debut for the club in 2019 (Morato stats – The Mail).
Interestingly, according to journalist Sami Mokbel, Morato actually told Benfica that he wanted to leave in the summer window. The defensive ace was a target for Fulham and Marco Silva, who saw an £18 million bid rejected.
