Spurs adding height at the back

Tottenham have had defensive problems all year and centrally we have had good and bad periods.

We have a policy of playing out from the back whenever possible, even in tight situations. That is how the Spanish are brought up to play and Mauricio Pochttino spent time there with Espanyol. That, his upbringing in Argentina and Marcelo Bielsa coaching methods, the Pochettino system is based on the system Bielsa uses, sees ball playing centre-backs required rather than the traditional English centre-back.

Individual errors when trying to adopt that policy have been costly, Fazio has given the ball away, Vertonghen has made an error shielding a ball, Dier made the same mistake, we are not going to talk about Chiriches or we'll be here all day long and Kaboul was making a mistake a game in the Anthony Gardner mold.

Listed below are players we have been linked with, current players, the players we expect to sell and sold last summer. Our central defenders are now a minimum of 1.87m (6ft 2in) tall, the two players lower than this are the two who have struggled and the two we are expected to sell.

We have made enquiries about Barcelona's Marc Bartra 1.83m (6ft 0in) and are in negotiations with Juventus over Angelo Ogbonna 1.91m (6ft 3in). These two at this stage would appear to be our main choices.

Hector Moreno has perhaps not played enough football since his injury and Chancel Mbemba is a little short and not at the standard of the two main contenders. I just get the impression we are trying to build up a taller set of ball playing centre-backs, in an area we have struggled with for years.

Possible Signings
Marc Bartra (Barcelona) 24-year-old (25 in January) 1.83m (6ft 0in) Spanish
Angelo Ogbonna (Juventus) 27-year-old (28 in May) 1.91m (6ft 3in) Italian
Chancel Mbemba Mangulu (Anderlecht) 20-year-old (may be 24) 1.82m (5ft 11 1⁄2in) Congolese
Héctor Moreno (Espanyol) 27-year-old (28 in January) 1.83m (6ft 0in) Mexican
Toby Alderweireld (Atlético Madrid) 26-year-old (27 in March) 1.87m (6ft 2in) Belgian

Current Players
Kevin Wimmer (Spurs) 22-year-old (23 in November) 1.87m (6ft 2in) Austrian
Eric Dier (Spurs) 21-year-old (22 in January) 1.88m (6ft 2in) English
Federico Fazio (Spurs) 28 year-old (29 in March) 1.95m (6ft 5in) Argentinian
Jan Vertonghen (Spurs) 28 year-old (29 in April) 1.89m (6ft 2in) Belgian

Expected to be sold
Vlad Chiriches (Spurs) 25-year-old (26 in Novenber) 1.84m (6ft 0in) Romanian
Younès Kaboul (Spurs) 29-year-old (30 in January) 1.82m (6ft 0in) French

Further Tottenham Reading
Man Utd open negotiations for Atlético goalkeeper Onlak
Why the £10 million Kaboul stories are rubbish