Tottenham Hotspur insider Alasdair Gold predicts that the club will make a ‘left-field’ signing on deadline day, although he fears that serious ‘questions will be asked’ if the club fail to strengthen an injury-stricken squad.
It’s been a disappointing winter window for Spurs so far, with only Conor Gallagher and teenage Brazilian left-back Souza brought in, while last season’s top scorer Brennan Johnson has departed and the club are in the midst of a damaging injury crisis.
As many as 11 first-team stars missed the dramatic 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday, with the squad currently in a far worse state than at the start of the January window.
But Gold is expecting some last action from Tottenham, who normally love a bit of drama on deadline day, with several names being linked with a switch to north London.
Speculative reports from Spain claim that Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo could be on his way to Spurs, but it’s in the forward areas where Thomas Frank is currently struggling for numbers and could do with help.
As our very own Graeme Bailey has been reporting, representatives of Al-Nassr striker Jhon Duran are pushing to secure the Colombian a move back to England after a proposed switch to Lille collapsed at the final stage, with Tottenham, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest all in the mix for his signature.
Duran could very much be viewed as a left-field deal, with Gold revealing in his YouTube channel that he does expect something to happen on deadline day: “Spurs are going to have to get really creative. I think we’re going to get something left-field, something out of the woodwork is going to emerge.
“You’re going to see so many links with Spurs because people know that they’re looking for attacking players, so there’s going to be so many stories.
“There will be agents using Tottenham to get their players a move somewhere or just to get them a new contract. I just feel like something’s going to come out of left-field that none of us expected and a name that’s not been reported.”
That left-field option could also be highly-rated Monaco forward Maghnes Akliouche, although that deal is looking increasingly tougher to pull off. The Frenchman also operates on the right, which will not be a position of need for Spurs once the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski return to action.
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Toxic Tottenham atmosphere could get worse
However, if Tottenham do not bring in any new signings when the squad is so obviously struggling and the threat of being dragged into the relegation scrap still exists, then Gold fears for the mood around the club – which is already fairly toxic.
He added: “They’re going to have to pull something out of the bag in quite dramatic style really, otherwise questions are going to quite rightly be asked about the ambition and the planning behind this window.
“It’s a window where they’ve sold last season’s top scorer, spent the money on a central midfielder, brought in a 19-year-old left-back and suffered a billion injuries in the squad.
“The squad has not been improved as a whole.”
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More Tottenham news: Real Madrid swoop; failed defender move
A stunning report out of Spain claims Tottenham and Leeds United have taken initial steps towards bringing a Real Madrid attacker to England, though the deal would be for the summer and not right now.
Elsewhere, West Ham are set to win the race for Chelsea star Axel Disasi despite Tottenham Hotspur showing interest in the defender on deadline day, TEAMtalk can confirm.