Ange Postecoglou has given his strongest hint yet that Tottenham will look to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window.
Spurs have suffered with injury problems over recent weeks with the likes of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Richarlison all absent.
Postecoglou’s all-out attacking strategy has fallen short in their absence and Spurs head into Christmas in 11th place in the Premier League following Sunday’s 6-3 defeat at home to Liverpool.
Asked if he was eager to do some business when the window reopens next week, the Australian said: “Like I said a while ago, we’ve been planning. A lot of it was going to be around where we’re at around this time. Fair to say we’re still a little bit short in a couple of areas and we need to reinforce.
“But January’s trickier in terms of what sort of players you can bring in. For us, ideal — for any club, I guess — you want to bring in people who are going to make you stronger.
“I think the fact that, obviously, we’re still in the Carabao Cup semi-final, still got Europe, FA Cup, we’re in all the competitions, it’s not like our schedule’s going to ease up at any stage. So I think it makes sense. We will try and reinforce where and what number we’ll have to wait and see.”
Team news from Ange ahead of our Boxing Day trip to Nottingham Forest 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Uiqnntmihk
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 24, 2024
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Bentancur back
Tottenham head to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day boosted by the return from suspension of midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.
The Uruguay international has missed the last seven domestic games for comments made about team-mate Son Heung-min but will be involved at the City Ground.
Left-back Destiny Udogie is also available after injury.
Postecoglou added: “From the game, as far as I’m aware no issues. Destiny was on the bench but wasn’t 100% quite right and should be right. Bentancur is available after his suspension. That’s kind of it for now.”
Forest return for Johnson
Brennan Johnson returns to his former club on Thursday having lost his place in the side due to the form of Dejan Kulusevski but Postecoglou is confident the Wales international will get his chance soon.
“Brennan just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” he said. “I’ve had Deki there and he’s done really well and scoring goals. It’s about the balance of the team. It’s about managing that load. We’re already overburdening some of the players up there. Brennan will get his minutes.”
