Managing Tottenham - Takefusa Kubo transfer decision amid £24.3m January double deal

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou could be facing a challenging few months in charge with the January transfer window on the horizon. The last 11 days have been far from straightforward for Spurs - with two poor defeats coming alongside several blows off the pitch.

A 3-2 loss away at Galatasaray and surprise defeat to Ipswich Town in Premier League action saw the Lilywhites enter the November international break on a very sour note. Following that, Wilson Odobert's injury setback was was fully confirmed when he posted an update from a hospital having undergone surgery.

With the winger set to miss a significant period, he will be joined out of the team by Rodrigo Bentancur. On Tuesday, the FA confirmed the midfielder had been handed a seven-game ban - and £100,000 fine - for racist comments he made in an interview about Spurs teammate Son Heung-min.

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Bentancur will only miss domestic outings and, thus, can return on Boxing Day which means his absence is unlikely to impact Postecoglou's January plans. However, there's a clear need for a new midfielder to come in, with another area of the pitch in need of being addressed imminently.

With that being said, football.london has taken a look at the important decisions Postecoglou could make over the next few months before January's window comes and goes;

Kubo transfer

Even before confirmation of Odobert's injury, Spurs lacked a direct winger, full of pace, with the ability to drive at full-backs with end product following that. The current options available to Postecoglou are Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Mikey Moore and Brennan Johnson, while Dejan Kulusevski can also be deployed out wide.

While all five of those names do have at least one of those aforementioned traits, there are clear struggles in certain areas. Real Sociedad star Takefusa Kubo could solve all of that - however - with the highly-rated Japan international improving his end product significantly.

His tally for the season is already nearly halfway to his total from the 2023/24 campaign but, more importantly, he possess the traits Postecoglou will love. Beating opponents with his pace and dribbling ability has seen him linked to numerous clubs including Tottenham.

If Spurs can get such a marquee deal over the line midway through the campaign, it could drastically help matters as the current campaign reaches its climax.

Cardoso and Yang agreement

Though the January window does not open for another 44 days, Tottenham already have two very clever deals in place. The first of those was agreed over the summer in the Giovani Lo Celso deal that saw him return to Real Betis on a permanent basis.

Spurs may have struggled to recoup anywhere close to the £27.2million they parted ways with back in 2020, but a positive did come out of his exit. Tottenham now have a £21million priority option to sign Johnny Cardoso who has been impressing in Spain as of late.

Given the midfield issues Postecoglou has encountered, as mentioned above, it will absolutely be worth activating that deal as soon as possible. Even if Spurs opt to go elsewhere, and another club comes in, the Lilywhites will earn some financial gain having included a sell-on clause.

Spurs have also signed South Korean winger Yang Min-hyuk for £3.4million from Gangwon FC. Although he looked set to arrive in the winter trading period, football.london understands he will now arrive in December, but will be given plenty of time to adapt to his new surroundings.

Goalkeeper dilemma

Guglielmo Vicario has endured a mixed first 15 months at Tottenham - with his best traits and clear weaknesses both having been made abundantly clear.

As an out-an-out shot-stopper, there are not too many goalkeepers better in the Premier League, but there are major question marks over distribution and penalty box dominance with set-pieces a particular issue. Spurs have improved from corners defensively, but a permanent fix has not yet been found.

Bringing in a new goalkeeper has now emerged as quite the priority with Fraser Forster, Vicario's back-up, seeing his current contract expire next summer. The decision for Postecoglou, regarding his replacement, centres around whether or not he will challenge Vicario for the No.1 spot or slot into an understudy role.

Competition breeds excellence and it's clear Vicario is a strong character, which means signing a top-quality shot-stopper is needed to bring the best out of him and his potential new teammate.

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