An update has emerged on Tottenham Hotspur and their plans to improve Ange Postecoglou's squad in the summer transfer window…
What's the latest Tottenham transfer news?
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed that the club are in discussions with Bayer Leverkusen over a deal to sign central defender Edmond Tapsoba ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
Although, the Premier League side are also eyeing up VFL Wolfsburg enforcer Micky van de Ven as an alternative option if they fail to land the Burkina Faso star.
The reporter Tweeted: "Edmond Tapsoba remains in Tottenham list as talks are still ongoing. He's always been top target as new CB. #THFC Spurs are now working on both van de Ven & Tapsoba deals; up to the club to decide who they want to sign, also based on financial package."
It has been reported that a fee in the region of £61m would be required to sign the centre-back this summer and it remains to be seen whether or not Daniel Levy is willing to match that figure.
Is Edmond Tapsoba good?
The Leverkusen enforcer is an excellent defender who has caught the eye with his performances for his current club in the Bundesliga in recent seasons.
He is a dominant battler who also has the quality to build play out from the back and the 24-year-old titan would come in as a big upgrade on Davinson Sanchez for Postecoglou.
The above graphic, as provided by Opta, shows that the talented ace is one of the best players in his position when it comes to winning possession back for his team, whilst his duel success rate of 59% in the Bundesliga last term also shows that he is efficient at doing just that.
Tapsoba averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.88 over 33 league outings for Leverkusen last season, which would place him above the likes of Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Sanchez, and Clement Lenglet within the Spurs squad.
Meanwhile, Sanchez averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.76 across 18 Premier League outings, which suggests that the Burkina Faso titan would be an upgrade in terms of the general standard of his performances week-in-week-out.
The £61m-rated colossus would also offer more in possession. He has averaged 7.22 progressive carries and progressive passes combined per 90 over the last 365 days, which places him among the top 8% or higher of players in his position in the Men's Big Five Leagues and European competitions in that time.
Whereas, Sanchez has averaged 4.09 per 90 for Spurs and does not rank higher than the top 37% of centre-backs in either statistic, which means that the Colombian international is not an outstanding progressor of the ball.
This suggests that Tapsoba, who journalist Raphael Honigstein once hailed as "outstanding", would offer far more than the former Ajax man in possession due to his exceptional ability to drive his team forward, with passes and carries to get his side into better positions on the pitch to cause damage to the opposition.
Couple this with his defensive strength alongside his average performance level and you have a player with the potential to be an extraordinary addition to Postecoglou's squad if he is able to translate his Bundesliga form over to the Premier League next season.