Tottenham to sign Ashley Phillips; Edmond Tapsoba & Micky van de Ven negotiations near conclusion

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a £3m deal to sign Ashley Phillips from Blackburn Rovers, while they also remain in discussions with Bayer Leverkusen for Edmond Tapsoba and Wolfsburg for Micky van de Ven, sources have confirmed to 90min.

Spurs have been keen to bolster their options at centre-back ahead of the 2023/24 campaign, with 90min revealing back in June that new head coach Ange Postecoglou had green-lit such plans.

Postecoglou confirmed Tottenham's hopes to bring in further defenders before the Premier League season kicks off following their 3-2 friendly defeat to West Ham in Perth on Tuesday.

"Some of it 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 told reporters.

"I think that's definitely our intention, absolutely [to sign them before the season begins]. We've been working on it for a while and we'll definitely try to get it done as quickly as possible."

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90min understands that Spurs will sign Phillips from Blackburn, but the 18-year-old will not be the last centre-back brought in this transfer window.

Tottenham have been locked in talks for weeks with Bundesliga duo Tapsoba and Van de Ven. The former is believed to be their top target, but Spurs are hoping to bring Leverkusen's asking price down from €50m.

Negotiations for Van de Ven, who would instead cost €40m from Wolfsburg, are slightly more advanced and the Dutchman is keen on joining Tottenham.

Sources have told 90min that Spurs do not expect this centre-back saga to go on for much longer, just as Postecoglou had hoped for.

Tottenham have already completed the signings of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, midfielder James Maddison and winger Manor Solomon this summer, while Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro's loan moves have been made permanent.

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On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss Brighton rejecting Chelsea's bid for Moises Caicedo, Man City closing in on Josko Gvardiol, Harry Maguire's uncertain Man Utd future and more!

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