Following the arrival of Johan Lange, the new sporting director at N17, will be highly interesting because the transfer chief’s job at Spurs is to improve manager Ange Postecoglou’s team by 2024. The former employee of Aston Villa, who reports to Chief Football Officer Scott Munn, replaces Fabio Paratici, who was suspended from football for 30 months globally.

Lange will now be crucial in ensuring that Postecoglou gets exactly what he desires in terms of transfers, even though the Italian still reportedly provides Tottenham with advisory services.

Following Micky van de Ven’s injury, the Lilywhites are reportedly giving the acquisition of a replacement left-sided center-back first priority, with the Dutchman’s absence severely exposing Spurs’ lack of depth in that position. Postecoglou is also rumoured to be interested in Al-Ittihad winger and former Celtic player Jota as a left-wing substitute for Dejan Kulusevski.

Tottenham now favourites to sign Iling-Junior

Adhering to the left wing, Spurs have reportedly expressed interest in Juventus prodigy Samuel Iling-Junior, according to reports from Italy. The former Chelsea academy product played in 12 Serie A games last season and has made four appearances off the bench for Massimiliano Allegri’s team.

Spurs have him on their transfer target list for Postecoglou, presumably because of his cameos for the Old Lady, which seem to have impressed them enough.

Positive news in this regard comes from an article published in the Italian newspaper Il Bianconero, which states that the north Londoners are now “first and foremost” in the competition to sign Iling-Junior.

In fact, Spurs are now the front-runners to sign Iling-Junior, as reported by Juventus, who values him at a rather reasonable £13 million. Juve might even be willing to discuss a loan arrangement, which would be much more encouraging for Postecoglou and Lange. The fact that the trades of Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur were successfully negotiated in the summer of 2022 suggests that Spurs and Allegri’s team already have a good working relationship.

Iling-Junior likened to Rafael Leao

The 20-year-old’s style of play is comparable to that of AC Milan great Rafael Leao, said writer Michele Neri of Eurosport. After a performance from the previous season, Iling-Junior’s supporters went “crazy” for him as well, and they are still huge fans of the team.

Iling Junior is a very quick player who enjoys attacking the vertical gaps in a straightforward manner against opposing full-backs, as Neri told TNT Sports.

“He is a left winger who can also play as a right winger if needed. He has a great sense for dribbling and a speed from a standing start that other Juventus players do not have.

“In these qualities you can absolutely see shades of Rafael Leao when the AC Milan superstar was a bit younger. The fans went crazy for him after the Benfica game where he played 20 minutes and really shone, providing an assist to Milik.

But Allegri did not utilise him more frequently after that because of injuries. Still, the fans were grateful for him.