Northern Ireland lost 1-0 to Austria on Friday night.
According to LAOLA1 in Austria, Tottenham Hotspur sent scouts to watch Austria take on Northern Ireland on Friday night.
After losing 2-1 to Bosnia and Herzegovina in their last UEFA Nations League game at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland were looking to get their campaign going with a trip to Vienna.
However, Marko Arnautovic’s second half winner handed Austria all three points, leaving Northern Ireland facing relegation in the UEFA Nations League.
Michael O’Neill won’t be pleased with his side’s start, but there were a bunch of scouts looking at players involved at the Ernst Happel Stadion.
LAOLA1 in Austria report that Tottenham Hotspur were scouting the game, but it’s unclear just who Mauricio Pochettino’s men will have been watching.
Spurs do play Arnautovic’s West Ham in their next Premier League match, though scouting one player in an international game for an upcoming club game seems somewhat far-fetched.
The natural idea is that Tottenham will have been scouting a potential transfer target, and one player who may just be on their radar is Northern Ireland goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell.
The Leeds stopper, 21, has impressed under Marcelo Bielsa this season, and having starred under Pochettino’s mentor in Bielsa, Spurs could just see him as being ideal for their setup.
Hugo Lloris has been in poor form and Michel Vorm is out of contract next summer, with a young, homegrown goalkeeper needed to develop under Lloris – and Peacock-Farrell certainly fits that bill.
Austrian duo Valentin Lazaro and Marcel Sabitzer would also make sense, as would Norwich City’s Northern Ireland left back Jamal Lewis, but Peacock-Farrell certainly adds up as a potential Spurs target in 2019.
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