Tottenham step away from top centre-back target, making separate £43m transfer vital | OneFootball

Micky van de Ven and Edmond Tapsoba have been linked with Tottenham.

Journalist Dan Kilpatrick has reported Tottenham have stepped away from Edmond Taspoba, so it’s vital that their transfer for Micky van de Ven goes through without a hitch.

Throughout the transfer window, Spurs’ ambition to snare a new centre-back has been evident. That owes to the fact their defence was so bad compared to the sides around them last season – only four sides conceded more Premier League goals than them (63), and three of them were relegated.

As such, new boss Ange Postecoglou has made it clear Tottenham are not going to perform that badly under him. The two main targets this window have been Wolfsburg’s Van de Ven and Bayer Leverkusen’s Tapsoba.

After being told around £34.5million wasn’t enough for the latter, it was reported Spurs were planning a fresh offer for the Burkina Faso international.

However, Kilpatrick suggests the north London outfit have decided against going through with that signing for the time being.

“Spurs have not ruled out signing two senior centre-halves, but what I do understand is that Spurs have cooled their interest or ended talks with Edmond Tapsoba, he was the other centre-back they were sniffing around along with Van de Ven,” he said on The Tottenham Way.

Kilpatrick also suggests that all their efforts are going towards the signing of Van de Ven at the moment.

“They have put all their eggs in the Van de Ven basket now,” he added.

Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano recently reported there was a verbal agreement in place between Tottenham and Wolfsburg for Van de Ven, for a deal worth £43million.

As such, it seems there has been no problem in them stepping back from Tapsoba in order to prioritise that deal.

However, that the contracts have not yet been prepared and there is only a verbal agreement in place means there’s still a chance things fall through. If that were to happen, Tottenham would likely wish they’d kept another defender on the back burner.

The chances of the deal falling through might well be minimal, though. All signs point to Van de Ven becoming a Tottenham player, after a long period of interest.

As such, they should be able to land him, though they might still want to snare another centre-back as well, but it might not be Tapsoba.

It’s been reported they’re close to agreeing a deal to sign Victor Nelsson, but with the suggestion Davinson Sanchez will go the other way, Postecoglou may continue to hunt for reinforcements.