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Tottenham round-up: Lloris boost; Leicester-man one of three on radar; potential moves for wingers
With speculation emerging from the recently that Tottenham shot-stopper Hugo Lloris was thought to be on a shortlist of goalkeepers targeted by Real Madrid, Spurs fans will be relieved by more recent rumours emerging from the , that the La Liga giants are set to turn their attentions firmly towards Benfica Number One, Ederson Moraes.
23-year-old Ederson has been at the Lisbon club since 2015 after signing from Rio Ave but has only broken into the first-team reckoning at Benfica this season where he has since caught the eye of the eleven-time European Champions, and Premier League outfit Manchester City.
Lloris and Ederson are thought to be on a four-man shortlist of alternatives to replace current Real’s Number One Keylor Navas, alongside Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtois and David de Gea of Manchester United. With Real likely to face a serious challenge in prising away any of the three Premier League candidates, it is most likely that they will look towards Ederson as a cheaper and more viable option, a major boost for Tottenham and their prospects of hanging onto France international Lloris.
Despite their inactivity throughout the January transfer window, it seems that Mauricio Pochettino will be more proactive in the summer, as the club gears up for a season playing at Wembley. To that end, the Argentine is set to re-ignite the club’s interest in Leicester City winger Demarai Gray, according to the .
Gray has been held in high regard at White Hart Lane for some time, with the club having monitored the youngster’s progress ever since he made his senior debut for Birmingham City back in 2013 at the tender age of 17. The Foxes activated the player’s £3.75million release clause to bring him to the King Power Stadium in January 2015, where he has since been something of a bit-part player.
Gray is thought to be one of three Spurs targets plying their trade elsewhere in the Premier League, with Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace and Everton’s Ross Barkley both on Pochettino’s radar, in an effort to integrate further pace and dynamism into Spurs’ attacking arsenal.
The arrival of Gray or even any of the others would also provide some much-wanted competition for £30million summer signing Moussa Sissoko, who has only managed six Premier League starts this season without scoring. He has made marked progress in more recent weeks, but with Pochettino still to get the best out of him, increasing the already intense competition for places at Spurs seems a viable wake-up call, as well as providing an ideal alternative if Sissoko continually fails to make a lasting impression.
Elsewhere, there might yet be outgoing at White Hart Lane in the summer, if reports from the are to be believed regarding wingers Georges-Kevin N’Koudou and Nathan Oduwa.
N’Koudou, a £11million summer signing from Marseille, is yet to make a serious impression at White Hart Lane and has been restricted to a handful of substitute appearances and no starts. Manager Mauricio Pochettino has previously pleaded patience for the youngster as he settles into the pace and intensity of the Premier League, but that may not be enough to dissuade N’Koudou’s first club – Ligue 1 side Nantes – from making an approach, if the Mirror’s reckoning is on the money.
Despite not making an instant impact in North London, allowing N’Koudou to leave the club for any less than the fee they paid for him would be a bizarre move from the club, particularly given that Pochettino has hinted in the past that his signing is a long-term investment and very much part of a project for the future.
Oduwa meanwhile, is a graduate of the Spurs academy system and is yet to make a first-team appearance for the club. The Mirror claim that the 20-year-old is in talks with Slovenian outfit Olimpija Ljubljana over a surprise move to Eastern Europe.
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