Journalist suggests Tottenham will go for £35m defender if they can’t sign Tapsoba this summer

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Football.London journalist Alasdair Gold has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur will turn to Micky van de Ven if they can’t sign Edmond Tapsoba this summer.

Gold has been speaking about Spurs’ search for a new centre-back in his latest YouTube video after the club announced the signing of James Maddison last night. 

Tottenham have got off to an encouraging start to the summer window as they’ve already addressed two key areas by bringing in goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and a playmaker.

Of course, the backline is expected to be Tottenham’s next focus as they bid to shore up what was a leaky defence last season.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba and Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven have both been heavily linked with a move to Spurs.

And while Gold claims that Tapsoba is currently Tottenham’s main centre-back target, he’s suggested they could end up going for Van de Ven instead. 

Tottenham could go for Van de Ven

Gold suggested there is a chance that Spurs end up going for both players, but much will depend on outgoings.

But if Spurs struggle to agree on a reasonable fee with Leverkusen for Tapsoba, they could switch their attention to Van de Ven.

“The feeling that I get is that Edmond Tapsoba is the main target, the top target at centre-back,” the journalist said.

“But there’s two ways of looking at this, there’s one aspect of, a little bit like David Raya and Vicario himself, if they can’t get the price down on Tapsoba, then Micky van de Ven is a very good young centre-back on the market.

“So you could say if they can’t get him, they’ll turn to him. But then who knows? Depending on the departures at Spurs, there’s no reason if they were able to get players out the door of going for both.

“Again, a lot depends on the Tapsoba value. As I said in the last video, I keep hearing loads of differing views on this figure.

“There’s been a £25m fee mentioned or valuation, then I also hear far higher than that as well. So it would be good to nail down exactly what Bayer Leverkusen are expecting for him. But everything that I’m hearing seems to be that he’s the top target.”

Tapsoba has impressed for Leverkusen and at 24, it’s no surprise to hear he is Spurs’ top target at this time. 

But Spurs moved on quickly from David Raya after it became clear that Brentford wouldn’t lower their asking price, so they could act similarly when it comes to deciding between Tapsoba and Van de Ven. 

The Wolfsburg centre-back is currently rated at around £35 million, whereas Tapsoba is expected to command a higher fee. 

Of course, many Spurs fans would love to see the club move to snap up both players as Ange Postecoglou will need better quality options in the position heading into next season. 

But much will depend on outgoings as Spurs face the task if trimming a bloated squad over the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, Spurs seem to be identifying exciting targets already this summer. Both Tapsoba and Van De Ven would improve Postecoglou’s options at centre-back.