Tottenham rush back into battle for Chelsea star with rare transfer pencilled in for January

Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah has been confirmed as someone Tottenham Hotspur want to sign in the January transfer window by a new report.

Tottenham attempted to take Chalobah on loan on the final day of the summer transfer window, but he remained at Chelsea instead. He is yet to play this season due to a thigh injury and it remains to be seen if he ever will be a genuine part of the Mauricio Pochettino era at Stamford Bridge.

TEAMtalk revealed a couple of weeks ago that a transfer away from Chelsea is still very much on the cards for Chalobah ahead of the new year.

We explained how Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have all put the centre-back on their shortlists after hearing how he will effectively be forced out by Pochettino.

Now, Football Insider has backed up Bayern’s interest and added that Tottenham are still in contention for Chalobah too as they prepare to invest in a defender in January.

An injury to Micky van de Ven has exposed a lack of depth in the Tottenham defence, only adding to the importance of their existing plans to add another option there.

According to Football Insider, Tottenham will try again to add Chalobah to their ranks when the January transfer window opens.

His ability to also operate as a defensive midfielder on occasion could come in handy for Tottenham, since that is another position they could find themselves short of options in soon.

Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr will be going to the Africa Cup of Nations and there are doubts about Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s future at the club.

Primarily, though, Chalobah is a centre-half and that is how Tottenham could find him most useful in the long term.

Signing him would be the first example of Tottenham taking a player from Chelsea since January 2009, when Carlo Cudicini crossed the London divide.

The report from Football Insider does not mention how much they are willing to pay for Chalobah, who remains under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2028.

Tottenham have widening defensive shortlist

It is not a given that Tottenham will get their hands on Chalobah, since they also have other targets in mind such as Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly.

However, TEAMtalk has learned that Bournemouth want to keep Kelly until the end of the season, even though that likely means losing him on a free transfer in the summer when his contract is due to expire.

Spurs will simply have to keep their options open in January while coming up with a strategy to bolster their defence further after the summer capture of Van de Ven from Wolfsburg.

Van de Ven has usually been starting alongside Cristian Romero at centre-back for Tottenham since Ange Postecoglou took charge of the club.

For their loss to Wolves on Saturday, though, Postecoglou had to pick Eric Dier and Ben Davies as a makeshift centre-back combination amid the Dutchman’s injury and a suspension for Romero.

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