Tottenham laughing as Prem side prepare to refuse centre-back exit route and sell to them | OneFootball

Tosin Adarabioyo in action for Fulham

Tosin Adarabioyo reportedly has an agreement with Monaco over a move, but Fulham instead want him to move to Tottenham so that they can sign Eric Dier.

Tottenham have so far signed one centre-back this summer, in Micky van de Ven. But throughout the window, both before and after his signing, they have been assessing other options.

Having conceded the sixth-most goals in the Premier League last season (63) and seen Clement Lenglet head back to Barcelona after his loan spell, it’s little wonder Ange Postecoglou wants his defence to be stronger than it was under those who took charge last season.

Spurs had been looking at Fulham man Adarabioyo, but at the back end of June, it was reported he was instead nearing an agreement with French club Monaco.

As per journalist Fabrice Hawkins, that agreement is in place, though he’s still yet to have made a move to the Ligue 1 outfit. The reasons for that relate to Tottenham still lurking for the defender.

In fact, Hawkins reports that while Adarabioyo wants to join Monaco, and has agreed to do so, Fulham would ‘prefer to sell him to Tottenham’ and ‘recover’ Spurs defender Dier.

Indeed, it seems they believe if they were to let their centre-back move to the north London outfit, they’d sent Dier the other way. It has been reported previously that Tottenham would consider selling Dier.

As such, there’s no reason to suggest they wouldn’t use him in a swap deal to get an exciting younger talent. Fulham obviously have reason to believe there’s a chance that move is going to happen.

Whether Tottenham have held talks with the Cottagers in order to find out if they’d be able to sign Adarabioyo is unclear. However, from their point of view, there’s a deal to be done with the centre-backs swapping places.

It’s also unclear if there would be any monetary exchange either way. However, there’s clearly a reason the Fulham defender has not yet moved to Monaco, and his club could keep him under lock and key until they can sort a deal with Tottenham.

Whether or not Adarabioyo would accept the move to Spurs remains to be seen. He would be joining a side in a better position than his current one, but there may be a question over how often he’d start, with Postecoglou currently playing a two centre-back formation.