Spurs have been linked with both Tanguy Ndombele and Donny van de Beek as central midfield options for Mauricio Pochettino next season.
Telefoot spoke to Ndombele, who said he is interested in a move to Spurs, while talkSPORT were told Donny van de Beek could join the Champions League finalists.
Last season, Pochettino had major problems with the centre of his midfield as his side were hampered with injury and transfer issues.
In 2018, Spurs were the first Premier League club in over a decade to not spend a single penny in a summer transfer window and as a result were left to work with what they already had.
They initially had a number of options at the start of the season but they began to dwindle when Moussa Dembele left in the summer, Victor Wanyama was struggling to stay fit, and Dele Alli was injured.
Their squad then reached breaking point when Harry Winks was ruled out during their most important set of fixtures in the spring, and Moussa Sissoko also went off during their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City.
All of this to say it exposed Spurs as a side who were struggling in central midfield.
However, when fit, Winks and Sissoko were two of Spurs’ best performers last season, with Sissoko brilliant as an enforcer, while Winks showed his ability to move the ball on with his engine, mobility and range of passing.
And bringing in two potentially expensive midfielders is dangerous because politically there will be pressure to play them ahead of Winks, who came through Spurs’ youth set-up.
But Winks is an example of one of the hallmarks of Pochettino’s reign at the club which is his ability to bring through young players and establish them as top-level operators extremely quickly.
What Spurs need is more strength in depth and, given Ndombele and Van de Beek would not tolerate sitting on the bench given their price tags and the fact that they were regulars in their respective clubs last season, it begs the question whether they would be the right fit for Spurs.
The Pochettino-produced spine – Rose, Winks, Alli, Kane – would be dangerous to tamper with because of not just their talent but also the importance they have to the identity of the club with regards to being homegrown.
A supplementary striker or a replacement for Kieran Trippier if he leaves should be higher up the order of priorities than an influx of central midfielders.