According to The Athletic, Tottenham are closing in on the signing of Blackburn Rovers defender Ashley Phillips.
The North London side have met the 18-year-olds £2m release clause and the period for other clubs to bid for Phillips will end on Friday- meaning that, unless anyone else enters into negotiations with the Championship club before then, the deal is expected to be completed over the weekend.
Spurs had already believed that they agreed a deal with Rovers a few weeks ago, having even booked a medical for the England youth international. However, the Riversiders ultimately increased their asking price to £5m plus a potential £4.5 in add-ons at the last minute, thus slowing down the move.
However, negotiations between the two sides still continued and it is believed that a final agreement is now close to being reached.
Having only made eight appearances and five starts in the EFL Championship for his boyhood side last season, the 6’4″ centre-back would be seen as one for the future at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, and it is understood that his signing would be in an addition to the two senior centre-backs Ange Postecoglou’s new side are looking to sign this summer.
Following on, if the deal were to be completed, it would see Phillips- who won the EFL Championship Apprentice of the Season award last year- join a centre-back department currently undergoing a period of significant change in North London ahead of next season.
Postecoglou has already stated he wishes to bring in “at least one” central defender this summer, however moves for Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba and Wolfsburg’s Vicky Van de Ven have yet to materialize, with talks yet to reach an advanced stage- whilst their interest in Tosin Adarabioyo of Fulham has not progressed either.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the field, club-record goal scorer Harry Kane’s future at his boyhood side is still uncertain, as club Chairman Daniel Levy’s talks with Bayern Munich continue, with the Bundesliga champions valuation of the striker £20m short of Spurs’ asking price.
Despite this, the England captain is expecting to stay at his boyhood side should he not be sold before August 13, when Tottenham will kick-off the new Premier League season as they face Thomas Frank’s Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Travis Levison | Get Football
