Tottenham Hotspur are favourites to sign Wolfsburg defender Micky van de Ven over north London rivals Arsenal, according to Jacque Talbot.

Who will Spurs sign after Maddison?

The north Londoners have sealed and confirmed three major signings this summer, putting pen to paper on deals for goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli and James Maddison from Leicester City most recently.

Spurs also announced the permanent capture of winger Dejan Kulusevski from Juventus, but reliable media sources detail that Ange Postecoglou’s side are not done after the aforementioned trio.

The Lilywhites are believed to chasing a new centre-back, especially after a 22/23 campaign which saw Spurs leak more goals than any other top flight side above Bournemouth in the table.

Tottenham and chairman Daniel Levy will be looking to fix that glaring achilles heel as soon as possible, and reports in the last week have suggested that they’re actively pursuing defensive options.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba and van de Ven of Wolfsburg are two centre-backs who Spurs have been linked to, with club-to-club talks even happening behind-the-scenes.

Renowned transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano confirmed that Spurs have opened negotiations for the latter player in particular, and other sources say the same of Tapsoba.

Writing on Twitter, Football Transfers reporter Talbot has an update on van de Ven and Tottenham’s chances of signing the Netherlands international.

According to the journalist, rivals Arsenal are actually targeting him as welll, but in a piece of good news for Spurs supporters, their club are in pole position as things stand.

Who is Micky van de Ven?

The colossal 6 foot 4 defender played a major role for Wolfsburg last season as they only narrowly missed out on European qualification.

According to WhoScored, only the Bundesliga side’s goalkeeper played more German top flight minutes than van de Ven, who also averaged more blocks per 90 than any other Wolfsburg player.

The 22-year-old is still very young and raw, but as he begins to reach his potential, members of the media have stood up to take note.

Journalist Ronan Murphy, for instance, recently heaped praise on van de Ven for “flourishing” under manager Niko Kovac.

“Van de Ven’s performances for Wolfsburg this season have him knocking on the door of the Netherlands international team,” said Murphy.

“A giant on the pitch, he’s flourishing under head coach Niko Kovac.”