Antonio Conte will look to strengthen Tottenham’s central defence this summer after targeting attacking players during his first transfer window at the club.
The Spurs manager added Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus in January and would have also added a right wing-back but the club missed out on Adama Traore who joined Barcelona from Wolves. Liverpool also hijacked Tottenham’s move for Porto forward Luis Diaz at the eleventh hour during last month’s window.
Fabio Paratici, Spurs’ football director, is looking at young centre-backs including Sven Botman, although there is expected to be intense competition for the Lille player who was targeted by Newcastle last month. Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni is also on Spurs’ radar, as is RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol.
Botman was Newcastle’s No 1 target for a centre-back in their first window since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but Lille were determined to keep hold of the Dutchman, 22, and would not have sold for less than €55 million (£46m). AC Milan were also interested in him and other clubs are expected to join the race.
Bastoni, 22, was a regular in Inter’s Serie A-winning team last season and has retained his place as they look to defend their title. Gvardiol has been a Leipzig player for two seasons but was initially loaned back to Dinamo Zagreb and first appeared in the Bundesliga last August.
Conte has brought his 3-4-3 formation to Spurs and has used Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier and Ben Davies, with Japhet Tanganga also featuring in a back three.
Cristian Romero has been injured since the start of Conte’s reign but another centre-back would increase the manager’s options in his backline.
Meanwhile, the club are also admirers of Blackburn Rovers teenager Ashley Phillips, 16, for their development teams. “He is going to be a mega footballer I’m pretty sure,” was the assessment of Rovers manager Tony Mowbray recently.
