Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly ready to rival Liverpool in the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie next summer.
According to Spanish outlet Fichajes, Tottenham Hotspur will prioritise the signing of Bayer Leverkusen defender and Liverpool target Piero Hincapie in the summer of 2024 as they look to bolster their defence further.
Ange Postecoglou seems to have steadied the ship so far. The Australian boss has already won over the Spurs fans and has his side sitting second in the Premier League after a decent start to the new campaign.
Despite the loss of talisman Harry Kane, Tottenham ended up having a productive summer transfer window. James Maddison has already proven to be an excellent pick-up and has been the star of the show, while several other new recruits have either hit the ground running or brought more competition for places.
While the summer transfer window was solid for Spurs, they must continue fine-tuning the squad to suit the Ange-ball. Postecoglou is still keen to add to a number of areas in his squad.
The North London side have left themselves a little light at centre-back after allowing Davinson Sanchez to move to Turkey this week, while Eric Dier remains out of Postecoglou’s plans. That leaves only Ben Davies and summer signing Ashley Phillips as backups to the first-choice central defensive partnership of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.
An extra left-footed centre-half would certainly be of use to Spurs. As such, Tottenham held an interest in Bournemouth defender Llyod Kelly in the summer window and even launched a deadline-day swoop. But a move did not materialise in the end.
Given the English defender is now in the final year of his contract with the Cherries, Kelly remains a cut-price option for the January window. However, with the money from the Harry Kane to Bayern Munich sale burning a hole in Daniel Levy’s pocket, they could set their sights higher with a reported pursuit of Piero Hincapie.
The 21-year-old has turned into one of the world’s most promising defenders since moving to the Bundesliga in 2021 from Talleres. He has been capped 27 times at international level for Ecuador over the past couple of years and impressed at last year’s World Cup. He was also a reliable presence in Leverkusen’s defence last season, featuring in 43 games for the Bundesliga side across all competitions.
A left-footed defender who is comfortable on the ball, the 21-year-old can play at both centre-back and left-back and really excels in progressive ball carries. The defender has a contract with Leverkusen until the summer of 2027 but has a price of €50 million.
It goes without saying he was the subject of interest from a raft of top clubs over the summer, including Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, who could reignite their interest in the defensive talent. Joel Matip has entered the final year of his contract, and Joe Gomez has been plagued by injuries, leaving Ibrahima Konate as Virgil van Dijk’s partner in the heart of defence.
Also Read: Liverpool Summer Transfer Window Verdict 2023
Micky van de Ven was eyed up before signing for Tottenham, while Levi Colwill was on the Reds’ radar, only for him to sign a new Chelsea deal. And the same goes for Sporting CP’s Goncalo Inacio, forcing them to realign their radars to Hincapie.
