Ange Postecoglou reveals Tottenham's summer transfer priority after latest injury worry

Ange Postecoglou has revealed Tottenham are already working hard to sign another new centre-back in the summer transfer window.

Until they signed Radu Dragusin from Genoa in January, Spurs had only Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero to call upon as natural central defenders in their squad.

Last summer, Clement Lenglet returned to Barcelona at the end of his loa, Davinson Sanchez was sold to Galatasaray and Joe Rodon departed on loan to Leeds. Eric Dier then signed for Bayern Munich in a January move recently made permanent.

Postecoglou played full-backs and midfielders in central defence when Van de Ven or Romero picked up injuries or suspensions before the January window, but Dragusin will get his first start when he deputises for Van de Ven against Fulham on Saturday.

“If you’re saying, ‘Is it an area we can strengthen?’, yes it’s an area we will probably look at”, the Tottenham manager said.

“With all these things, it’s about trying to strengthen the group as much as anything else. If you think about when I first arrived, we had maybe six or seven centre-backs at the club. So it’s not just numbers. It’s more about the ability of those players to play the football we want and to fit in to what we’re trying to build here.

“I think it is an area of the park we will look to strengthen, but I think we’ll look to strengthen all areas of the park come the end of the season. That is planning that’s already underway, and other people are in charge of it at the moment.”

Postecoglou has been impressed with Dragusin since the 22-year-old joined Spurs.

“In terms of profile, he’s a young man that’s already played significant minutes, which helps us when we’re recruiting”, he said of Dragusin’s signing from Genoa for an initial £21.5million.

“We’re a squad that needs to develop, and we’re looking for that younger demographic. But at the same time you’re looking for guys that have played.

“I’ve liked his trajectory. He’s played at clubs where he’s had to fight for everything. In Serie A you get tested every week.”

The ex-Celtic boss added: “He really wanted to come here, and I don’t disregard that. When players have a strong desire to come here, they have obviously thought carefully about it and have evidence that it’s right for them.

“You don’t need much more evidence that you can’t do with just than two centre-backs, no matter how good they are. We’ve been challenged in that space.”