Since he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur last summer, Ange Postecoglou has undertaken plenty of work to reshape his defence. In his first transfer window, he splashed out up to £43m on Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven, and then in the winter, he sanctioned an additional £27m deal for Genoa's Radu Dragusin.
The pair have joined Cristian Romero and Ben Davies as options in the middle of the back four, and while that should be enough until the end of the season, Davies' uncertain future could force Spurs back into the market before long.
The Welshman is fast approaching the final year of his contract in North London and was the subject of interest from Premier League promotion hopefuls Leeds last month. While nothing came of that, journalist Paul Brown has said it wouldn't be a "surprise" if Davies is "granted a move away in the summer" as he confronts the likelihood of limited minutes under Postecoglou.
Spurs battling for Tapsoba deal
In this context, Spurs are reportedly exploring a deal for Edmond Tapsoba at Bayer Leverkusen. Writing for Caught Offside, Bild journalist Christian Falk reports that they're showing a keen interest in the defender alongside a host of domestic and international rivals.
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Manchester United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, PSG and Atletico Madrid are also eager to sign Tapsoba too, with Leverkusen apparently ready to sell him if they receive a fee in the region of £34m.
Spurs could have world-beating depth with "cool" Tapsoba
Having joined Die Werkself from Vitoria Guimaraes in 2020 for about £17m, Tapsoba has gone on to make 164 appearances for the club. 27 of those have come this season, with the Burkinabe 25-year-old now back in the fold after missing three games due to AFCON. When he has been available, he's tended to play, starting 15 out of 19 in the league for a Leverkusen side that looks increasingly likely to break Bayern Munich's monopoly.
Rank
Player
Club
P 1/3
1
Nico Schlotterbeck
Borussia Dortmund
119
2
Dayot Upamecano
Bayern Munich
117
3
Waldemar Anton
Stuttgart
111
4
Kim Min-jae
Bayern Munich
105
5
Edmond Tapsoba
Bayer Leverkusen
101
Described as a "cool" by talent scout Jacek Kulig, Tapsoba specialises in many of the areas that are so important for a modern defender. As you can see in the table above, he's one of the best progressive passers in his position, and despite his ambition on the ball, he's also maintained a highly impressive 91.6% passing accuracy so far.
Crucially, he also has the pace needed to operate in Postecoglou's system, having been clocked at a speed only 2 km/h slower than former Bundesliga competitor Micky van de Ven. If Spurs can get this deal done ahead of the chasing pack, then they could have one of the strongest groups of centre-halves in European football.