REPORT: Tottenham continue to negotiate for Jan Paul van Hecke

You’d think after signing Marcos Senesi on a free transfer (yes, I know it’s not OFFICIALLY official but it’s happening) that Spurs would be done with defensive reinforcements. Well, you’d be wrong. According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham are continuing to negotiate with Brighton & Hove Albion for the transfer of Dutch central defender Jan Paul van Hecke, who is set to participate in the World Cup which begins later this week.

Van Hecke is a solid enough defender and Roberto De Zerbi wants him, which in the absence of an Actual Sporting Director™ is probably what is making the difference here. But it IS curious — two central defense reinforcements in a squad that, even with the hypothetical sales of Cuti Romero and Radu Dragusin, still has Micky van de Ven, Kevin Danso, Senesi, and (ostensibly) Ben Davies, plus Luka Vuskovic, pending whatever Spurs decide to do with him. Adding Van Hecke to the mix is… weird.

That is, unless De Zerbi is planning on selling another defender and/or playing in a back three formation. I’d say the latter is more likely, even if we hadn’t seen a back three much from De Zerbi in the run-in last season. That’s really the only explanation I’d like to think about, because the alternative is selling Romero, Dragusin, and one of Danso or Van de Ven, and that would probably make me pretty upset.

Now, Van Hecke is a good player would make a fine addition to Spurs’ back line. He’s an excellent passer from deep and is probably going to cost somewhere in the realm of £45m or so when all’s said in done — that’s what the negotiations are for. That’s not a bad price for an international footballer with a solid defensive pedigree on a team that finished in a European qualification spot. It’s just… I’m not sure what we’re actually DOING here and I worry a bit about who’s calling the shots right now until we can appoint that “world class” director of football that’s been talked about lately.

I don’t hate this. Not really. But it’s odd, and that kinda worries me.