Tottenham Hotspur transfer news: Key star on 'agenda' for Barcelona as relegation threat poses long

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven is reported to be on the radar of Barcelona in the summer.

The Londoners must take three points on Thursday against Crystal Palace if they are to stave off the threat of relegation from the Premier League.

Interim boss Igor Tudor's side are in 16th place with just 29 points, two more than 17th-placed Nottingham Forest and four more than 18th-placed West Ham United.

With the team now battling the drop for a second consecutive season, it is hard to see Tottenham's key players being pleased with the direction of the club.

Diario Sport claim that defender Van De Ven is a target for Catalan side Barcelona, though they also have Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni listed as an option.

Why relegation could lead to transfer disaster for Spurs

Recent reports have suggested that demotion would automatically trigger significant wage reductions for the players in Tottenham's squad.

The team's stars would have been unlikely to be persuaded to stay and compete in the Championship anyway, but the threat of wage reductions could lead to a mass exodus.

Spurs' sponsors may also look at their agreements with the club should the Londoners suffer relegation, and that could impact the team's ability to spend adequately in the summer.

The turmoil of significant exits and the loss of revenue would make Tottenham's promotion charge far more challenging, and failure to bounce back into the Premier League could be disastrous.

Should Tottenham consider selling Van de Ven even if they survive?

Though there is no doubt that Van de Ven can be an incredibly effective channel defender given he is arguably the fastest centre-back in the league, he has often made clumsy errors when isolated against opposition forwards.

The Dutchman is also injury prone - he only started 12 top-flight games last season - and his absences have been made worse by the fact fellow centre-back Cristian Romero has often suffered setbacks too.

Selling at least one of their two central defenders should be considered, even if Tottenham manage to secure Premier League survival.