Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsa are believed to be ‘fighting’ it out in the race to sign RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol.

The Lowdown: Spurs leaking goals

Antonio Conte’s side have been leaking goals at an alarming rate in recent months but did manage to stop the rot with a clean sheet against Crystal Palace in midweek.

Spurs have conceded 25 times in 18 matches in the current Premier League campaign, more than the likes of Everton and West Ham, both of whom are involved in a relegation battle.

Conte has mainly gone with a back three throughout the season, and it looks as if a marquee defensive addition is on the agenda in 2023.

The Latest: Gvardiol transfer tussle

Sport Witness relayed an update from Bild in the last 48 hours regarding Gvardiol.

They claimed that it is Spurs and Chelsea who both want the centre-back, with Tottenham possibly affording an €80m-€100m transfer (£70.8m-£88.5m) - which would be a club record - by cashing in on star striker Harry Kane.

[web_stories_embed url="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-updates-2/" title="Tottenham latest updates!" poster="https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-tottenham-fans.jpg" width="360" height="600" align="none"]

The Verdict: Interesting…

It seems as if Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici would need to make Gvardiol the club’s most expensive signing of all time, although selling club legend Kane to fund a deal for the young defender probably wouldn’t go down too well with supporters.

Hailed as a 'beast' by writer Manuel Veth and 'sensational' by members of the media, Gvardiol is clearly already a star at the age of just 20, and his displays at the World Cup with Croatia were statistically better than any Spurs defender in the Premier League (as per WhoScored).

You’d expect that he’ll only get even better in the coming years, too, so if Spurs can manage to fund a deal for the Leipzig defender while holding onto Kane, it could be a brilliant piece of business.