Tottenham among ‘courtiers’ for player ahead of January – Would need to convince club of transfer

Tottenham are among the ‘courtiers’ for Kalvin Phillips ahead of the January transfer window, with the player keen to leave Manchester City.

That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who say Tottenham could be rivals to Juventus for the Englishman’s signature.

The newspaper covers Phillips today, explaining that he has emerged as a potential option for the Italian side as Manchester City appear to be opening up to the idea of a loan deal for him in January.

The midfielder is very much not a part of Pep Guardiola’s plans and would prefer to move, at least temporarily, in January to a club where he can get regular football and boost himself ahead of Euro 2024, where he’d be a part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

Juventus are growing increasingly confident they could get a deal done but there is ‘competition’ for his signature. Phillips ‘boasts other courtiers’ in the Premier League and Tottenham are one of them.

Any deal is dependent on the terms set by Manchester City and whether they’re willing to loan the midfielder to a Premier League club. According to Gazzetta they would prefer not to and particularly to a side that are currently rivalling them for the title.

That, then, could hand Juventus the advantage, particularly as Phillips would be interested by a move to Italy as well, meaning Tottenham would need to work hard to convince City of the transfer.

The idea is there, though, as they plan for January when both Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma will depart to play in the Africa Cup of Nations and leave Ange Postecoglou’s side missing their two first-choice central midfielders.