Dan Kilpatrick, writing for the Evening Standard, has claimed Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho wants his own 'transformative' Spurs signing in a defender who can have the same impact in north London as Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool or Ruben Dias at Man City. 

Kilpatrick, dropping this claim, has revealed Mourinho's desire for a world class asset who can solve the Lilywhites' woes at the back - with current options Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez and Joe Rodon apparently making the manager grow frustrated behind the scenes (Evening Standard).

Daniel Levy failed to bring in a star-studded centre half last summer despite a memorable transfer window in general, but they reportedly attempted late talks to sign Serie A colossus Milan Skriniar (Sky Sports) .

Chief scout Steve Hitchen flew to Italy in a bid to negotiate for the Slovakian, but Inter Milan and Tottenham couldn't come to an agreement on the price tag (Alasdair Gold).

Seven summer signings came through the door during a busy 2020 summer transfer window, with Levy snapping up Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Joe Hart, Matt Doherty, Sergio Reguilon, Gareth Bale, Carlos Vinicius and Joe Rodon.

However, despite heavily investing, the Lilywhites' failure to address that concern in central defence appears to be costing them dearly at this moment in time.

Jose Mourinho transfer wish revealed

In this update by Kilpatrick, Mourinho's desire for a centre-back who can impact Spurs in a similar vain to Van Dijk and Dias has been revealed - but time is running out if he wishes to act on that by the end of this window.

If not, it could be something to watch for in the summer as this claim emerges.

In other news: Fabrizio Romano dropped an update on this 'interesting' Tottenham development, find out more here.