Tottenham have the best defense in the Premier League and have only conceded 14 goals in 21 games.
Recently, Belgian international Jan Vertonghen suffered an ankle injury against the Baggies which will keep him out for at least two months (The Guardian) and that is a major setback for the North Londoners who are second in the table behind Chelsea.
Kevin Wimmer is the natural replacement for the (Star) £100,000-a-week ($123,000-a-week) star but Mauricio needs to sign an experienced player to partner Alderweireld in the central defense.
According to Irish Independent, Tottenham are lining up a move to sign Southampton star Jose Fonte to replace the 29-year-old defender.
The Portuguese international has already submitted a transfer request (BBC) to leave the St. Mary’s and Spurs may have to pay a fee (The Sun) of 15 million pounds ($18.5million) to hire his services.
This season, the 32-year-old defender has played 19 games for the Saints. His last outing was against the Toffees on 2nd January. Since then, he has been left out of the squad by manager Claude Puel.
As per the provided Independent link, Spurs would look for a loan move to sign the Euro 2016 champion with the option to make the deal permanent next summer. However, Southampton will want to sell the veteran player now.
In your opinion, is Fonte good enough to replace Vertonghen?
Also Read: Tottenham Look to Agree $86,000-a-week Star Signing
Spurs Plan $18.5million Star Signing to Replace $123,000-a-week Man
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Not a chance. We do not need an over the hill defender. Wimmer is perfectly adequate.
You don’t fill a hole with oddball pieces of flotsam and jetsam when you have a replacement available & capable.
Cameron Carter Vickers looked pretty handy in the cup, albeit against lower league opponents. With Dier, Wimmer and CCV I don’t think there’s any emergency at the back. Spurs might look at some potential long term replacements for Vertonghen, but I would expect a move like that to happen in the summer rather than January, and Dier is probably going to take a regular centre back role as he matures anyway, so might not happen at all.
Fonte is a good player, but his signing would be the opposite of Spurs’ current transfer policy which is something along the lines of: “sign developing players for £10-15m who can be sold for profit should they fail to secure a place in the first team”.