Ange Postecoglou, his Tottenham centre-back issue and his big clue towards player transfer exits
Ange Postecoglou identified a new centre-back or two early on as one of his priority areas to improve his Tottenham squad yet still the issue has not been addressed.
Spurs conceded 63 goals in the Premier League — only a few bottom of the table clubs let in more — so the need to prioritise a couple of centre-backs was obvious. The new head coach made it clear to football.london last week that it was one of the areas he had quickly identified as needing reinforcements.
«Some of [the areas needing new players] I had identified early on. I don't think it's any secret about some of the areas we needed to strengthen. The goalkeeper was one and central defence is another,» he said.
Whenfootball.london asked whether he wanted more centre-back options before that first Premier League match at Brentford, Postecoglou made his desire pretty clear.
«Yeah, I think that's definitely our intention, absolutely. We've been working on it for a while and we'll definitely try to get it done as quickly as possible,» he said.
«Working on it for a while» hung in the air, a familiar refrain heard from or thought by many a Tottenham Hotspur manager over the years.
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This summer Spurs have brought in three players so far in goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, midfielder James Maddison and winger Manor Solomon, while also making the loan moves for Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro permanent.
Yet with the defence so poor last season and Postecoglou so clear early on about needing a new centre-back, why were the centre-back signings — Spurs would like two — not the priority and at least one of the first moves made?
Vicario, Maddison and Solomon were all moves of opportunity,
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