Ask the majority of Tottenham supporters in the Football Transfer Tavern where they’d like Mauricio Pochettino to strengthen this summer and the reply will usually be in defence and in attack.
All the better then that according to widespread reports online, FC Koln’s Austrian international centre back Kevin Wimmer is set to become Spurs’ first signing of the summer transfer window after being spotted in a German airport by Bild ahead of travelling to London for a medical.
With Younes Kaboul’s injury troubles scaling new unwanted heights and the jury still very much out on the likes of Vlad Chiriches, Tottenham fans will hope that the lesser known Wimmer can arrive, go under the radar and complete his defensive duties efficiently.
One Spurs fan takes this moment to pipe up and claim that although the signings of the likes of Wimmer, DeAndre Yedlin and Ben Davies are all well and good, where are the bigger name flair additions to truly make Tottenham fans genuine top four contenders?
While Christian Eriksen has proved an inspired signing, bigger names such as Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado have failed but this shouldn’t put Tottenham off trying to lure the bigger names to White Hart Lane.
With this in mind, we have identified five more Spurs targets who could end up following Wimmer to White Hart Lane this summer.
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Click on Erik Lamela below to reveal the 5 players who could follow Kevin Wimmer to Tottenham next season.
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Kieran Trippier
This past season, Tottenham have alternated between Kyle Walker and Eric Dier at right back under Mauricio Pochettino and with no solid situation still pinned down with Walker’s proneness to injury, perhaps a move for Kieran Trippier would make sense.
The Burnley full back was one of the Clarets’ better players in an ill-fated Premier League campaign, showing elements of desire, energy up the flank and a wicked ability from set pieces.
Arsenal have been linked in the past while AFC Bournemouth remain keen this summer but Tottenham have been billed by Metro as favourites to get a relatively small £3.5 million deal done.
Danny Ings
Trippier’s Burnley team-mate Danny Ings was expected by everyone in the Football Transfer Tavern to be signing for Liverpool this summer but that may now not be the case.
According to today’s reports from Metro, Spurs are looking to take no chances on losing out on Ings’ signature and are prepared to blow all of their transfer rivals out of the water by submitting a large £12 million bid for the Clarets striker.
Although Ings is set to become a free agent this summer, the Turf Moor club would still be due compensation for the England Under-21 international and Tottenham are reportedly willing to give Sean Dyche his men that and then some.
If Spurs do manage to pull a deal off for the impressive forward, fair enough but if he were to endure a spell like Roberto Soldado, perhaps Daniel Levy would have taken a gamble too far.
You’d imagine that somebody like Ings would continue to flourish having enjoyed a good first season in the Premier League and working as a foil for the likes of Harry Kane, an English strike partnership is something all Spurs fans would want to see prosper.
Marc Bartra
Even though the signature of Kevin Wimmer now looks a formality, the signature of another centre back wouldn’t go amiss at White Hart Lane, particularly if the likes of Kaboul and Chiriches are disposed of.
One man who has been linked with Tottenham in recent times has been Barcelona centre back Marc Bartra, a product of the Catalan club’s famed La Masia academy.
The interesting sub plot here is that Bartra is now reportedly available at just £7.1 million after playing fewer than 60% of Barcelona’s fixtures this past 2014/15 season.
Prior to this, he had an incredible £35 million release clause in his contract but the player is firmly behind the likes of Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Jeremy Mathieu and the returning Thomas Vermaelen in Luis Enrique’s defensive pecking order.
We’ve seen in the past with the likes of Oriol Romeu that usurping the talents in Barcelona’s first team is no mean feat and you’d imagine that likes of Marc Bartra would see a Tottenham switch as an appealing opportunity to forge a first team career.
Charlie Austin
Much like Danny Ings, now that QPR have been relegated, you’d imagine it is a formality that they will now lose their best player.
Charlie Austin plundered a mighty 18 goals in his first ever Premier League season, evidence enough that he’d be able to reproduce that kind of form at a bigger club.
Austin scores all kinds of goals and would surely prove more reliable than the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado.
If signed tomorrow, he would prove Tottenham’s second choice striker in Pochettino’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation behind Harry Kane but would apply far more pressure to Kane than the likes of the aforementioned players, adding more competitiveness to Spurs’ ranks.
It remains to be seen where he will end up with the likes of Liverpool also interested in the R’s forward.
Ezequiel Lavezzi
At the outset, we mentioned how it is important that Tottenham continue to show ambition in the transfer market and one player who most Spurs fans agree would represent a marquee addition is Paris Saint-Germain forward Ezequiel Lavezzi.
For Spurs to land a forward who has vast Champions League experience in recent seasons would be huge for the club and Lavezzi also represents a versatile pro who can be deployed in Nacer Chadli’s position on the left wing as well as in a centre forward’s position.
ITV referenced Italian reports last week that suggested that Lavezzi has rejected a deal with Liverpool to agree a four-year spell with Tottenham.
While this news may still prove premature, there is no doubting that Tottenham fans would love to call upon a player like Lavezzi in their squad; they just hope he’d prove more successful than his Argentine international compatriot Erik Lamela!
