Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur

Premier League • England

Tottenham January transfer plan exposed as Daniel Levy prepares to loosen purse strings

Antonio Conte chats to Fabio Paratici of Tottenham

Tottenham insider Alasdair Gold has dropped an update on how he thinks the club’s transfer business will go in the upcoming January window.

Spurs are expected to be active in the new year as Antonio Conte looks to bolster areas of his squad he feels are a bit thin, while also looking to upgrade one or two positions.

Having booked their place in the Champions League last 16 after victory in Marseille on Tuesday night, significant funds are expected to be made available to Conte.

The Tottenham boss has stated on numerous occasions that it will take the club several windows to get the sort of squad he really wants. That is despite the fact that eight new arrivals came through the door over the summer.

The winter window is traditionally much harder to attract big names. However, Gold states that Spurs will target quality additions over quantity.

Quality over quantity key for Tottenham

He told his YouTube channel: “From what I understand, the January transfer window is going to be purely focused on that quality side.

“So as a whole, they don’t really want a bloated squad. They don’t want more than they’ve currently got, which is roughly two for each position apart from right wing-back, where there’s about 75 players that can play there. And still Ivan Perisic plays there…

“Now it’s about changing the pieces and saying, we’ve got two people in that position but we could let one of them go and we could try and upgrade them. And that’s what it’s about.”

At this stage, there are two glaring Tottenham needs that need addressing. They are at centre-back, while there is also the need for a creative midfielder.

Cristian Romero’s continuing injury issues are a cause for concern. Eric Dier, meanwhile, is not playing as well as he was at the start of the season.

The left side of Conte’s back three is a straight fight between Ben Davies and Clement Lenglet. However, the latter is only on loan and looks set to return to Barcelona at the end of the season.

Conte has top defensive targets in mind

Inter Milan duo Alessandro Bastoni and Stefan De Vrij remain targets, although the latter will be the cheaper option given that he is out of contract next summer.

As for getting a playmaker on board, that could prove trickier. That’s largely down to the fact that many of the best ones are still in European competitions.

Leicester star James Maddison remains an option but he could cost anywhere in the region of £60million.

Maddison would provide that link between midfield and Tottenham’s potent attack. However, this issue remains how and where he would fit into Conte’s preferred 3-4-3 formation.

But the England World Cup hopeful’s stats cannot be ignored.

Indeed, Maddison scored 12 goals and added eight assists in the Premier League last season. And during the current campaign, he already has eight goal involvements in 11 league games.

Much will now depend on Leicester’s willingness to sell mid-season. And also Daniel Levy being prepared to pay over the odds for an England international.

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