Ange Postecoglou provides a January transfer update for Tottenham Hotspur following Cristian Romero’s injury.
With a hamstring problem, the Argentine defender could miss the entire month of January.
Ange Postecoglou feels Tottenham will complete their January transfer business sooner than usual after suffering another physical setback.
Tottenham will be without centre-back Cristian Romero, who has been declared out for four to five weeks with a hamstring strain, when they travel to Brighton on Thursday night.
Romero joins the likes of Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, and James Maddison on the injured list, while Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr, and captain Son Heung-min will be unavailable due to international commitments at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup next month.
Tottenham have a reputation for being aggressive on transfer deadline day in the winter window, having signed Pedro Porro earlier this year and completing a double swoop for Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski in 2022.
Postecoglou, on the other hand, stated, “Obviously, if we can do business early, it’s great for us.” Not only because of the loss of Romero, but also because there’s a whole month left – why waste it?
“If you can bring them in early, even if they don’t play, you can ease them into training and our style of football because we’re not going to sign someone and expect them to hit the ground running.”
“Whereas if you leave it until the end of January, it could take until the middle to end of February for them to catch up, depending on where they’re coming from, the league they’re coming from, so there’s a lot of moving parts.”
“So, yes, I’d like to do something early in the window, but even saying that puts us at a disadvantage because other clubs know we want to do something early.”
“You’ve got to play the game, we’ll see what happens but I’m hopeful it will be much earlier than the end of the window before we bring someone in.”
“I’m sure there will come a day when our playing stocks will be much healthier, but I appreciate the fact that we’re winning games and playing great football without some of those players”.- Ange
Spurs are interested in Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo, but they also have a long list of other centre-back targets.
With Destiny Udogie available for the trip to Brighton after suspension, Tottenham’s habit of having one player back before another joins the treatment table continues.
Postecoglou’s club faces Bournemouth at home on Sunday, but the Australian has been impressed by the team’s tenacity in the face of a continuous injury crisis.
“Someone said before, ‘when all these players come back,’ and I said, ‘it never works that way.'”
“I’m not the only one; other clubs are going through it as well.” To be fair, we’ve been going through it for quite some time, but I truly admire the approach that everyone – coaches and players – is taking internally.
“We’ve still been disappointed with our losses, and the most important thing is that we’re not playing our football.”
“I’m sure there will come a time when we’ll be much healthier in terms of our playing stock, but I like the fact that we’re winning games and playing decent football even without some of those players.”
Son is scheduled to join the South Korean group following Bournemouth’s New Year’s Eve visit, but Postecoglou, who won the Asian Cup as Australia manager in 2015, has no reservations about his captain missing vital January club fixtures.
“I rank it pretty highly,” Postecoglou added.
“Many European fans regard the Euros as important, just as they do the Asian Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations.”
“I hope Sonny finishes second to Australia again.” That would make me very delighted.”
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