Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou targets early January transfer window signings - ‘Why waste it?’

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou says it would be a “waste” to wait all of January to sign new players, and wants to get any transfer business done early in next month’s window.

The Australian has already said he wants a new centre back, after the lack of depth was exposed following the absences of Cristian Romero and Micky van der Ven through a combination of injury and suspension.

It was confirmed on Wednesday that a hamstring strain will rule Romero out for 4-5 weeks, while van der Ven is still recovering from a similar problem - though he could be back by mid-January.

Eric Dier and Ben Davies are options to play in the centre of defence for Thursday night’s Premier League trip to Brighton, who are also dealing with a number of high profile injuries.

Spurs are also missing James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur, while Yves Bissouma, Pape Sarr and Son Heung-Min will all head off to represent their countries soon at the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup, respectively.

“Obviously if we can do business early, it’s great for us. Not just because of losing Romero but there’s a whole month there – why waste it?” said Postecoglou, ahead of the transfer window opening on New Year’s Day.

“If you can bring them in early, even if they don’t play you can bed them into training and our style of football because it’s not like we’re going to sign somebody and they’ll hit the ground running.

“Whereas if you leave it towards the end of January, it’s potentially not until mid to end of February when they get up to speed, depending where they’re coming from, the league they’re coming from, so there’s a whole lot of moving parts.

“So, yes, I’d love to do something early in the window but even me saying that puts a challenge on us, because other clubs know we want to do something early."

Spurs head to the south coast on the back of three straight victories, while Brighton are winless in their last three league matches.

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