Jose Mourinho is reportedly preparing to raid one of his old clubs Tottenham in the remaining weeks of the January window in his search for new defensive recruits at Fenerbahce.
The Turkish giants, having sold Ferdi Kadioglu to Brighton and lost Jayden Oosterwolde to a long-term injury, are currently in urgent need of defensive reinforcements.
To that end, Mourinho has turned his focus back to north London and is said to be targeting previously out of favour left-back Sergio Reguilon to join him in Turkey.
The Spaniard has long been linked with a Tottenham exit after falling out of favour under Antonio Conte first and then Ange Postecoglou. Loan stints at Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Brentford all failed to produce permanent moves for the 28-year-old but things have changed a little in recent weeks.
Indeed, Spurs’ defensive injury crisis had led to Reguilon being back in favour with Postecoglou, with both Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies currently sidelined.
That being said, the Spurs chief has still preferred to start the right-footed Djed Spence at left-back instead of Reguilon, who has been used from the bench when needed.
And it appears Mourinho is well aware of the player’s situation, with Turkish outlet A Spor claiming that the Portuguese tactician has spoken to Reguilon recently about a switch to Fener.
Mourinho is paraphrased as saying: “Let us work together again”. Indeed, he views the Spain international as an ideal fit for the needs of his current club.
Furthermore, Fenerbahce’s sporting director, Mario Branco, is expected to travel to England to hold talks with Tottenham over the transfer before the Turkish window closes on February 11 – eight days after the English one.
Writing on the wall for Reguilon
Speaking about Udogie was ruled out for six weeks with a hamstring issue, Postecoglou said of Reguilon: “He’s been available all year but obviously at the moment we’ve got, you know it’s no secret, we’ve got quite a lot of our defenders out and obviously we lost Destiny now for a period of time.
“It’s going to be a while, so yeah, Reggy, I’m sure will get more opportunities.”
It’s not quite panned out like that, with the Spaniard featuring twice off the bench against Wolves and Newcastle – although he did play the full 120 minutes against Tamworth in the FA Cup.
The fact that Spence has been preferred at left-back over the naturally left-sided Reguilon still says a lot about the player’s long-term future in north London.
Links also continue to Leece attacking left-back Patrick Dorgu so, with that in mind, there’s every chance that Postecoglou could let Reguilon go before that February deadline.
Latest Tottenham news: Positive news on striker swoop / surprise attacker link
Given Tottenham’s ongoing injury crisis, they’ve received some good news in their hunt to sign a top Ligue 1 striker before the January transfer window closes.
Despite currently sitting 14th in the table, just eight points above the drop zone, Spurs are the second highest in the Premier League this season with 43 goals from their 21 games – only leaders Liverpool have scored more.
However, summer signing Dominic Solanke has only contributed seven times in 18 appearances and Ange Postecoglou has often bemoaned his side’s ability to take their chances in a number of narrow defeats this term.
With that in mind, Spurs have been offered the chance to sign Lille hotshot Jonathan David and a doctor who specialises in injuries has revealed just what Postecoglou would want to hear.
Meanwhile, Tottenham reportedly have made an offer to bring Barcelona forward Ansu Fati back to the Premier League, with a report claiming that the decision was taken after the defeat to Arsenal while adding that another London side have also launched a bid.