Ange Postecoglou will be looking to address Tottenham’s summer transfer policy on his first day as head coach. The Australian led Celtic to a record eighth domestic treble last season but faces a tough overhaul at Spurs who finished eighth last season – a huge 29 points behind champions Manchester City
Barnes picks Spurs over Hammers
Despite spending his whole career at Leicester City their shock relegation to the Championships is likely to see 25-year-old Harvey Barnes leave this summer. The winger, who scored 13 goals in 34 Premier League games last season, will need to leave the Foxes to help his international ambitions with England.
James Maddison has already made the switch to Spurs and Postecoglou will be hoping to persuade Barnes to make the same move. However, West Ham are also interested and the London rivals look set to battle for his signature in the coming weeks.
Spurs have already began their summer re-build with winger Dejan Kulusevski, attacking midfielder Maddison and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario signing for next season. Next Spurs will have to address their defensive problems having conceded 63 goals last season.
Postecoglou will be encouraged by the fact that his new employers are ‘very close’ to sealing the transfer of Bayer Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba for a fee of around £25million. A defensive overhaul could be the head coach’s biggest task this summer with Clement Lenglet returning to Barcelona following his season-long loan and other defenders rumoured to be exiting.
Davinson Sanchez, Eric Dier and Ben Davies could all make way to free up finances for replacements. Postecoglou could also have a battle on his hands from Liverpool in the race to sign Wolfsberg defender Micky van de Ven.
The Dutch defender is reportedly keen to work alongside Virgil van Dijk at Anfield and the new Spurs boss will have to persuade him to make a London move. Fulham defender Tosin Adarabioyo is another option if Arsenal decides not to make a bid after being handed a ‘strict deadline’ to complete a £10m move.
