Away from the action of the World Cup, clubs in the Premier League will be workig hard ahead of the transfer window opening officially on Monday.
Five of the traditional ‘big six’ in the Premier League will start the 2026/27 season with new managers in charge compared to the start of last term, with only Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta remaining.
Tottenham Hotspur will have Roberto De Zerbi at the helm, with the Italian having replaced Igor Tudor in March and guided the Lilywhites to safety on the final day of the season.
The former Brighton and Hove Albion boss will want to finetune his squad ahead of the start of the season, and it has now emerged that the north London outfit are leading the race to sign a highly-rated defender.
According to CaughtOffside, Spurs are leading both Chelsea and Liverpool in the race to sign Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez.
Ordonez helped Club Brugge to win the Belgian top flight title last term (Photo: Belga/Alamy)
The centre-back is currently on international duty with Ecuador at the World Cup in North America, and he is set to start their match against ivory Coast on Monday morning.
Ordonez joined Club Brugge from Independiente in 2022 and has since played more than 125 times for the club across all competitions.
Liverpool were previously interested in the Ecuadorian and the report suggests that the Reds have reignited their interest and are now seriously considering a move for the player following the departure of Ibrahima Konate.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are also considering a move for the player and are said to currently be in pole position to land him this summer.
Ordonez, 22, is contracted to his current club until the end of the 2028/29 campaign, but it appears that he could leave the Belgian side during this summer’s window.