Ange Postecoglou has given his strongest hint yet that Tottenham will look to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window.
Tottenham have suffered injury problems in recent weeks with the likes of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Richarlison missing.
Postecoglou's all-round attacking strategy has failed in their absence and Tottenham head into Christmas in 11th place in the Premier League after a 6-3 defeat at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
Asked if he was keen to do some work when the window reopens next week, the Australian said: “As I said a while ago, we've been planning. A lot of it was going to be where we are at around this time. It's fair to say we are.” We are still somewhat lacking in some areas and need to strengthen.
“But January will be more difficult in terms of the type of players you can bring in. For us, it's ideal – for any club I think – that you want to bring in people who will make you stronger.
“I think obviously we're still in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, we're still in the European Cup, we're still in the FA Cup, we're in all the competitions, it's not easy to have our schedule at any stage. So I think that makes sense. We'll try to strengthen the place.” “The number we will have to wait and see.”
Team news from Ange ahead of our Boxing Day trip to Nottingham Forest 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Uiqnnntmihk
– Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 24, 2024
The return of Bentancur
Tottenham head to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day buoyed by the return of midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur from suspension.
The Uruguay international has missed the last seven domestic matches due to comments he made about teammate Son Heung-min, but will feature at the City Ground.
Left-back Destiny Udogie is also available after injury.
Postecoglou added: “From the game, as far as I know there are no problems. Destiny was on the bench but it wasn't 100% right and he has to be right. Bentancur is available after being suspended. That's kind of the way it is at the moment.”
Johnson's Return of the Jungle
Brennan Johnson returns to his former club on Thursday after losing his place in the team due to Dejan Kulusevski's form but Postecoglou is confident the Wales international will get his chance soon.
“Brennan just needs to keep doing what he's doing,” he said. “Dickie's been there and he's done a really good job and scored the goals. It's about the balance of the team. It's about managing that load. We're really overburdening some players there. Brennan will get his report.”
