With Vicky Van de Ven out injured at least until the new year and Cristian Romero being suspended, the next few games will be a struggle for Tottenham’s defence. Van de Ven and Romero are Tottenham’s main centre-backs and currently the players who will replace them are Eric Dier and Ben Davies.
Although they have been at the club a while and can do the job, it would be better to have a fresh couple of centre-backs to enable rotation and improve squad depth. Furthermore, this could be Eric Dier’s final season at the club with his contract running out in 2024.
Spurs have been linked with a few centre-backs to sign in January 2024 these include Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton) and Malik Thiaw (AC Milan). All three have different strengths and have potential to fit in well at Spurs.
Starting off with Jarrad Branthwaite, he is a 21-year-old left sided centre-back currently at Everton. The youngster has made 20 appearances in the Premier League so far in his career, scoring one goal and keeping three clean sheets in the process. Branthwaite doesn’t just play for Everton, he is also in the under-21 England squad and recently captained them in their latest victory over Northern Ireland.
The fact that he is young, plays for England and is used to the Premier League makes him a great prospect. Other aspects he has is that he is tall (6”5) and therefore is known to be good at headers, especially from crosses into the box. He is also a left footed centre-back which is quite rare – van de Ven is also left footed but this means Branthwaite could be a perfect back up for him when injured like now.
Because he is young, he could be a player to come off the bench when needed, which works well for Tottenham due to not many centre backs being able to replace van de Ven and Romero currently when they are available to play. When either of these options are not available, or a refresh is needed, he is a great player to bring on. As time goes on and he grows more as a player with the club, he then he may gain a starting position.
It is not only Tottenham who are interested in Branthwaite, Manchester United are also very keen and therefore it could be a difficult task to claim him. With his contract running until 2027 with Everton, they will not let him go for cheap. Now that Everton have recently been deducted 10 points and are in the relegation however, Branthwaite may push to make a move for himself.
Another player Tottenham are interested in is 23-year-old Marc Guehi who currently plays for Crystal Palace. It is thought that Crystal Palace want no less than £60m for their defender so Levy will need to splash the cash if he is serious about securing him. Guehi has made 84 appearances in the league so far scoring three goals, providing one assist and has kept 22 clean sheets. He is a very promising young defender.
As well as playing for Palace, Guehi also plays for England. He has captained the Under-21s sixteen times and was part of the Under-17 side who won the 2017 world cup. Recently he has been very solid for the first team becoming a firm member of Southgate’s England squad after starting both the Euro 2023 qualifiers over the most recent international break.
Guehi is a very calm player, composed and has good mentality. This is sometimes needed in Tottenham’s defence due to Romero being feisty and more reckless at times. Having this contrast especially whilst van de Ven is out could work very well.
Finally, a third centre back Tottenham could sign is AC Milan's defender, Malick Thiaw, who at only 22 years of age, has shown huge potential in Italy. Whilst at Celtic, Ange Postecoglou was interested in him too therefore he probably already knows a lot about the German.
Thiaw is said to be an aggressive front-footed defender who is one of the most physically dominant in his current team. He is right footed which Is different to van de Ven, however these two are similar in the sense of being tall, young, fast and physical defenders.
Again, Thiaw is different to Romero in the sense of being more subtle with his challenges, rather than challenging from afar and flying in like Romero, he prefers to get closer to the players and tackle more smoothly. His concentration is also excellent, making it difficult for players to move past him and Spurs need that patience in their defence to increase their strength.
All three youngsters would be great assets for Tottenham and at least one new centre-back is needed in January to give Spurs that greater squad depth they need to help them get back into form.
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