Tottenham are said to be sizing up a January reinforcement following the injury to Micky van de Ven.
The Netherlands international appeared to be holding his hamstring as he was substituted in the victory over Manchester City, before being replaced by Destiny Udogie after just 14 minutes in North London.
Van de Ven has endured an injury-hit start to his life at Spurs, having also missed two months last season with the same issue. There is concern over the 23-year-old and Spurs are already being tipped to bring in an extra body over the winter period.
Former Tottenham scout Mike Brown says the Lilywhites are exploring their options
Mike Brown, former scout at Tottenham Hotspur, says the Lilywhites want to bring in a new defender to help ease the worries brought on by Van de Ven's injury and the fitness of Cristian Romero.
Both players were injured last season and there is thought to be some wiggle room in the mark for manager Ange Postecoglou to bring in a new player in January.
“Tottenham worry me defensively,” Brown said via Football Insider. “They fall down at the fundamentals, they’re just not good enough at the back. That’s even with their first-choice team on the pitch. Their strength in depth is an issue too because it makes rotation difficult.
"Their strength in depth is an issue too because it makes rotation difficult. They’ve got a settled pairing in [Cristian] Romero and [Micky] Van de Ven, but behind them, they’re short of real quality options and strength in depth. From what I’m hearing, they want to bring in someone who can fill in if those two miss out.”
In FourFourTwo's view, another body to help Romero and Van de Ven would be valued, given the club did the same by bringing in Radu Dragusin last season.
But after being sent off in the Europa League, the former Genoa man may not be the answer to all their problems and somebody with a better pedigree, for example Joe Gomez at Liverpool, would be the ideal solution.
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“I’ve been mindful of Micky," Postecoglou said after using him as at left back for the final 30 minutes of a win against Burnley.
"He’s had a couple of injuries and I’ve got to be careful with him when it comes to the demands of playing left-back in our system. I’ve got to think about the future and the physical demands are different at left-back."