Spurs keen to sign replacement before allowing defender to leave

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou will be hoping to see his side return to winning ways when they face high-flying Aston Villa after the international break. 

Spurs had started the season strongly and sat top of the Premier League table after nine games, but defeats against Chelsea and Wolves have allowed Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal to leapfrog them and leave them fourth.

During the 4-1 loss to Chelsea, both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were sent off, leaving the Lilywhites with nine men.

The defeat against the Blues also came at a cost in the long-term, as both James Maddison and Micky van de Ven suffered injuries and now expected to be absent until 2024.

With that in mind, it appears that Spurs will now ensure they sign a defender before allowing one of their current crop to depart.

Van de Ven is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines

As per Football Insider, Tottenham are intent on signing a central defender before allowing Eric Dier to leave the club.

The Englishman hadn’t featured this season until he was substituted on to replace Van de Ven against Chelsea, and he subsequently started the defeat against Wolves.

Despite being reintroduced into the first team, it is claimed that Dier is still likely to leave the club in January with German champions Bayern Munich said to be interested in signing him.

Postecoglou is said to be wary of being short of defensive options if Dier were to depart, though, and Spurs will therefore look to sign a replacement defender before allowing the England international to leave.

Dier, 29, joined Spurs from Sporting CP back in 2014 and has since made a total of 362 appearances for the club across all competitions.

He had been a regular for the club for several seasons but fell out of favour when Postecoglou arrived, and is now expected to leave North London when the transfer window reopens in January.