Japhet Tanganga looks on course to remain at Tottenham beyond Thursday's transfer deadline, football.london understands. A key summer for the player due to a number of injuries and lack of regular first-team football in recent seasons, the 23-year-old has been heavily tipped to depart and seal a move to Italy.
Linked with a switch to Serie A in the past few transfer windows, both AC Milan and Roma were mentioned in regards to a deal for the 23-year-old this summer. Nottingham Forest were another club keen on a deal for the versatile defender but football.london reported last Tuesday that the player's preference was to secure a move to AC Milan if he was to depart Tottenham.
However, football.london understands that the club at this stage have currently blocked his potential summer move and he is set to stay in N17 for the time being. A deadline day change of heart can never be ruled out but at this stage a transfer exit for the player has been put on the back-burner.
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That decision could in turn have big implications on the possibility of a new defender arriving before Thursday's deadline. Speaking both ahead and after Spurs' recent game against Wolves, Antonio Conte stressed that any player departing his current squad would have to be replaced.
Tottenham have plenty of cover in defence despite letting Joe Rodon leave on loan, with Clement Lenglet joining Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Davinson Sanchez and Tanganga at the club this summer. However, it's imperative that they don't leave themselves too short and ensure they have two players for every position.
Since breaking into the Tottenham first team during the 2019/20 season, Tanganga has played in a number of roles across the backline due to his versatility. Missing out on the squad completely on the opening day when Southampton visited Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the former England U21 international has been named on the bench in the past three games but has yet to make an appearance so far this campaign.
Conte is going to have to rotate his team over the coming weeks, however, and that could potentially open the door for the player to get some much-needed minutes under his belt. Speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon, Conte was asked about potential incomings before deadline day and stressed that the club know his opinion.
"I spoke with the club. I spoke with Paratici, with Daniel Levy, I said to them my opinion," he said. "But as you know very well, the most important thing is for the club to know my opinion. If we do something or not, it’s ok."
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