Tottenham are closing in on the permanent signing of Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid, according to David Ornstein. It has been claimed that the two clubs are nearing an agreement in the region of £34.7million (€40m) with the player keen on a move to north London.
Spurs joined Aston Villa in the race for his signature following the serious injury to Rodrigo Bentancur, as reported by football.london.
The midfielder is set to be sidelined for the next few months with a hamstring injury which has resulted in the Lilywhites moving into the market in search of a new central midfielder and it certainly appears as though they have found their short-term replacement.
The England international left Chelsea in the summer of 2024, but now looks set for a return to the Premier League following a mixed 18 months in Spain.
Villa were leading the race for Gallagher having lost Boubacar Kamara to injury just minutes into their FA Cup win over Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this past weekend.
However, Spurs have been pushing for a permanent deal which was also the preference of Diego Simeone's side.
Spurs were interested in signing the 25-year-old when he was made available for transfer by the Blues but he opted for a move to Atletico.
The expected arrival of Gallagher could hint that the buy-option in Joao Palhinha's loan switch from Bayern Munich will not be activated with Bentancur having also signed a new contract recently.
It has not been an easy last few weeks for Thomas Frank with Mohammed Kudus picking up a long-term injury to join Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison as influential attackers absent. Richarlison was also forced off with a muscular issue on Saturday evening.
The departure of Fabio Paratici at the end of this month further clouds matters for the club with the Italian having only recently officially returned.
The Spurs boss was asked about transfers after the recent loss to Unai Emery's side and provided a clear response.
He said: "I think we definitely need to do everything we can to play two good halves, which is, I think every team wants to do that. Every team wants to be consistent in that aspect.
"In terms of transfer market, as I said many times, we are out there working very hard, trying to improve the squad."
Spurs currently sit fourteenth in the Premier League table and are now out of both domestic cup competitions. They occupy eleventh in the Champions League standings are likely to have a play-off to reach the proper knockout stages.