Tottenham and Levy could now hijack Man Utd talks to sign £30m defender

Tottenham Hotspur could move to spoil Manchester United‘s attempts to bring in a new defender for Ruben Amorim, with the under-pressure Ange Postecoglou facing serious backline issues of his own.

Ange Postecoglou facing calls for sack amid Tottenham form

Spurs have slipped to 15th in the Premier League table, and are closer to the relegation zone than they are to the European qualification places.

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Spurs are doing their due-diligence on alternative managers.

This has piled pressure on Postecoglou, despite the club’s current injury crisis, which has resulted in 10 first-team players currently being unavailable for selection.

Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Timo Werner, Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert and striker Dominic Solanke all missed their 3-2 defeat at Everton last weekend, but there are still real question marks around Postecoglou.

Spurs have lost 12 Premier League games already, which hasn’t happened at this stage of a season for decades, but it appears chairman Daniel Levy is keeping faith with his current tactician for the time being – factoring in their serious lack of available star players right now.

“At the moment, no substantial updates on Ange Postecoglou’s position,” said Fabrizio Romano earlier this week.

“Let’s see what happens in the next few days but injuries are considered a massive issue and one of the reasons why Spurs’ plan is currently not working.”

One thing is certain, though – Postecoglou needs new signings through the door before deadline day on February 3.

Spurs appear badly in need of a new defender, and have been for a while considering van de Ven and Cristian Romero’s absences. While the duo are expected to return sooner rather than later, it is reliably believed that the Lilywhites are in the market for a new centre-back (Gary Jacob).

Udogie is currently out with a hamstring injury as well, and this has prompted interest in signing Lecce starlet Patrick Dorgu.

Tottenham could hijack Man United talks to sign Patrick Dorgu

The Denmark international, rumoured to command a price tag of £30 million, is attracting serious interest from United, but Spurs could attempt to hinder their advances.

According to The Boot Room and journalist Graeme Bailey, Tottenham hijacking Man United’s talks for Dorgu is a real possibility, and links to the left-back are nothing new – so this could hold some substance.

Spurs have been targeting Dorgu as an alternative to Udogie since as far back as last year, with the Serie A gem said to be keen on a move to England as well. The versatile 20-year-old has started all but one of Lecce’s 21 Serie A matches this term, making their joint-third highest rate of tackles per 90 whilst also averaging their second-highest number of shots per game on average (WhoScored).

“He has already had a lot of playing minutes in Serie A with Lecce, and he has done really, really well,” said Denmark Under-21s coach Steffen Højer to bold.dk.

“What is special about him is that he is a quiet and calm guy, but things are just incredibly natural for him on a football pitch.”