Vertonghen turns 32 in April and is contracted to Spurs only until 2020.
Tottenham Hotspur have arguably two of the best defenders in the Premier League in Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen, and while there have been concerns over the former’s future at the club, there haven’t been such worries regarding the latter.
Indeed, Vertonghen told the Evening Standard back in December, when a year’s option was taken up by Spurs to take his contract up to 2020, that he feels he has “at least four to five good years left in the tank” and seemed open to remain beyond next summer.
However, with the Belgium international turning 32 in April, it wouldn’t be surprising if talk of a successor, who can give Mauricio Pochettino an extra option in Vertonghen’s place, has been discussed within Tottenham’s offices.
As far as left-footed centre-backs with the ability to play left-back are concerned, there is one particular player currently impressing in the Championship, who has been out of favour at his parent club and as such could potentially be available this summer.
Tyrone Mings has hit the ground running at Aston Villa after joining on loan from Bournemouth in January, establishing himself as a regular starter at centre-back and helping Dean Smith’s side reach the playoff places.
The versatile, left-footed defender stands at an impressive 6ft 5in and only turned 26 in March (Transfermarkt) , so he’s got plenty of years ahead of him, and even though he has not had the best of times at Dean Court, partly due to injuries, he has become a fan favourite at Villa Park, as evidenced by some of the fan reaction towards him on Twitter.
A Villa tweet from 18 March also outlined some impressive stats regarding Mings and his defensive partner Kortney Hause:
The £8million signing from Ipswich Town in 2015 (The Guardian) is reported to be on Southampton’s radar (The Mirror, 17 March, page 72) while the Birmingham Mail reports that Villa have an agreement with Bournemouth that allows them to match any bid the Cherries receive for Mings, but only if they get promoted.
Given Spurs are a Champions League standard club about to go into a brand new stadium, they would certainly be in with a chance of interesting the Villa loanee, so they should definitely keep an eye out on him and how he does between now and the end of the Championship season.
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