Tottenham are now thought to be the most serious side about signing a £70 million defender who's been called "similar" to star centre-back Micky van de Ven.
Ange admits Spurs could sign another centre-back after Dragusin
The £25 million signing of Radu Dragusin from Genoa in January was thought to be a significant deal for Spurs, as they were starved of quality alternatives to van de Ven and Cristian Romero at the time.
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The latter star's hamstring injury last November seriously exposed Spurs' lack of defensive depth. Indeed, van de Ven's absence midway through 23/24 prompted a brief but poor run of form, and perhaps alerted Lilywhites transfer chiefs to the glaring weakness in Ange Postecoglou's squad.
A move for Dragusin was then swiftly completed in the winter window, with the Romanian seriously helping to bolster Postecoglou's back line. His presence also allowed Spurs to cover for the injured Destiny Udogie at the end of last season, with van de Ven moving to left-back and Dragusin taking his usual spot in the centre.
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However, despite the 22-year-old's arrival at N17, Postecoglou has previously admitted that Spurs could look to sign another centre-back this summer – as they eye even more cover.
“If you’re saying, ‘Is it an area we can strengthen?’, yes it’s an area we will probably look at”, the Tottenham manager said.
“With all these things, it’s about trying to strengthen the group as much as anything else. If you think about when I first arrived, we had maybe six or seven centre-backs at the club. So it’s not just numbers. It’s more about the ability of those players to play the football we want and to fit in to what we’re trying to build here.
“I think it is an area of the park we will look to strengthen, but I think we’ll look to strengthen all areas of the park come the end of the season. That is planning that’s already underway, and other people are in charge of it at the moment.”
Tottenham made an offer to Tosin Adarabioyo before he joined Chelsea, as revealed by club insider Paul O'Keefe at the time. Spurs also held an interest in signing Lloyd Kelly on a free transfer from Bournemouth, but the Englishman is on his way to Newcastle United instead (Simon Stone, BBC).
With both free deals out of the window, Spurs apparently have their eyes on a far more expensive option in Nottingham Forest star Murillo.
Tottenham most serious side in race for Murillo
The Brazilian, who starred for Forest over his 32 Premier League starts, is also being chased by their north London rivals.
That is according to Football Transfers, who also claim that Tottenham have shown the most interest in signing Murillo at this point. They may need to stump up a considerable transfer fee, though, and it could be as high as £70 million.
FT have also called Murillo "similar" to van de Ven, which is an enticing comparison when considering just how crucial the 23-year-old is to Spurs.
