Fabrizio Romano claims Spurs and Liverpool are ‘monitoring’ Japan defender

According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are both ‘monitoring’ Borussia Monchengladbach centre-half Ko Itakura, with a view to signing the Japanese defender in the summer.

Tottenham are keen to sign a new centre-back during the January transfer window as a top priority (Telegraph), in order to add depth to a squad that has been ravaged by injuries this season.

As it stands, the most likely solution to that problem will be Radu Dragusin, with Fabrizio Romano claiming the North London side have sent an offer for the player, with Dragusin himself happy to switch and Ange Postecoglou approving the acquisition.

However, Spurs are in need of more than one centre-half. That much has been made clear by the way the squad has been exposed by the injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero.

Liverpool badge
(Photo by Visionhaus)

Spurs could sign centre-back in the summer

Whether Spurs will be able to sign two centre-backs in the current window remains to be seen, but if they are willing to wait until the summer, they could land Ko Itakura. However, they’ll have to beat Liverpool if they wish to sign the Japanese star.

That’s according to Fabrizio Romano, who tweeted: “Ko Itakura, one to watch in 2024 as top clubs are monitoring Japanese CB. Understand Liverpool have sent their scouts multiple times to follow Itakura’s performances.

“Tottenham also monitored him as Ange Postecoglou wanted Ko at Celtic. Release clause NOT valid in January.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Ko Itakura is a very athletic, hard-working defender who is brilliant at putting his body on the line to make a big block or clearance.

It’s no surprise that Postecoglou is an admirer of the defender, and anyone Ange appreciates is good enough in my book. We’ve plenty of options, though, so we’ll have to see if he is the one we go for.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know