Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says the club are working to bring in a new centre-back in the January transfer window after Cristian Romero was ruled out for up to five weeks.
The north Londoners have been dealing with a horde of injuries all season – and several suspensions, too – and finished Saturday’s narrow 2-1 win over Everton with a back four of Pedro Porro, Eric Dier, Ben Davies and Emerson Royal.
Romero was forced off at half-time with a tight hamstring while Micky van de Ven has missed the last seven Premier League matches with a hamstring injury of his own.
Spurs have actually lined up with a back four composed entirely of full-backs on several occasions and could be forced to do so again with Romero now sidelined until February and Van de Ven still several weeks away.
They have already been linked with a host of centre-backs to provide cover and competition, from Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo to Bournemouth’s versatile defender Lloyd Kelly.
The presumption had been that Spurs would target a left-sided centre-back to cover for Van de Ven, but Romero’s injury – coupled with his sketchy disciplinary record – means a new right-sided centre-back might be equally necessary.
Postecoglou, though, has played down the distinction and says the club will target a centre-back with the ‘right characteristics’ regardless of whether they play on the left or right.
‘I don’t put as much stock into the left-sided or right-sided centre-back scenario,’ said the Australian at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of facing Brighton.
‘We just need another player in that position who can provide some more depth for us and the ability to change it up.
‘It won’t matter if it is left-sided or right-sided, it is more the profile and characteristics.
‘We didn’t go looking for a left-sided centre-back at the start of the year, it just happened that Micky was the perfect centre-back.
‘Even if we had another left-sided one, I still would have signed him. It is about looking at the right profile, the right characteristics and seeing what is available, then going from there.’
On Romero’s injury, and whether it accelerates Tottenham’s transfer plans in January, Postecoglou continued: ‘It’s not so great with Romero. He had a scan the other day. He’s got a hamstring strain. So we’re looking at probably four weeks, five weeks for him.
‘It doesn’t change anything. Disappointing to lose him, for sure. We obviously missed him with the suspension and now, we’d just got him back and kind of steadied things up and obviously we have him missing again for quite a chunk of time.
‘But it doesn’t change really … you can’t accelerate time, mate. It’s still December. January 1st stays January 1st irrespective of our situation. The plans and the planning is still in the same shape.’
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