Ange Postecoglou hints at Tottenham transfer priority as unlikely solution to £15m issue emerges

Ange Postecoglou has been shown clearly what his Tottenham transfer priority must be this summer. After joining as the club's new manager last summer, Postecoglou has welcomed nine players with Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario among those making a huge impact.

Just one more new signing will take Postecoglou into double figures for transfer incomings and yet there is still plenty of work needed to build a squad on par with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal. Even though more transfers are still needed, the Tottenham boss certainly appears happy with how his additions, and those he has integrated into the team, have got on.

"Now I think we’ve done really well in the transfer windows so far which means we’re probably further ahead than I thought we’d be in terms of the squad," he told Optus Sport. Because when I look at [Guglielmo] Vicario, [Micky] Van de Ven, [Destiny] Udogie, Pape Sarr, Brennan Johnson – guys who are kind of in their first year of real Premier League at this club, all 20/21/22, I think [wow]. Apart from Vicario, but he’s still fairly inexperienced for a goalkeeper.

"I think I’ve got the formation there of being further along, but we need to start filling the gaps further up in terms of our starting XI but also, like you said, more importantly for our squad." Depth in a number of positions is clearly still required with issues at full-back, given their importance to Postecoglou's system, made evident this season.

During April, Spurs lost Destiny Udogie to injury with his replacement Ben Davies soon following to the treatment table which left Emerson Royal as the only obvious option to come into the starting XI. The importance of Udogie, signed in the summer of 2022 for £15million, cannot be understated and Emerson has thus far been unable to match his impact against Chelsea and Liverpool.

Even though Spurs have signed five defenders in the last 18 months, it is paramount that another left-back is signed this summer, and Postecoglou has seemingly admitted just that but he may have found a short-term solution in the meantime. "We have been working with Skippy the last few weeks," he said when asked about Oliver Skipp's introduction at left-back against Liverpool.

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"When we lost Destiny and Ben, left with Emerson who is not really a left-back, we were looking around at options and in training we have been using him in that space. I thought he did well when he came on.

"The way we play with full-backs, certainly with some of the positioning, he wouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the positions he would need to take up. He is an option for us and I think we need another option because we have three games this week and we only have Emerson as a back-up full-back at the club."

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