Villas-Boas set to now step up attempts to land highly rated Romania central defender this summer.
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Tottenhan Hotspur may have to quickly enter the transfer market in search of a new defender after yet another centre back went down injured on Saturday ahead of the start to the new Premier League season, according to reports in the Metro.
The north London club were already facing an injury crisis at the back following the ankle problem picked up by Belgium international Jan Vertonghen against Sunderland in the recent Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong, with the central defender set to be missing for up to a month.
And on the back of the continual struggles of Younes Kaboul, who is still being affected by the knee injury that he suffered against Newcastle United on the opening day of last season, now comes an injury to club captain Michael Dawson that could not have arrived at a worse time for head coach Andre Villas-Boas.
The England international has suffered a leg injury that meant he could not feature in Tottenham’s 5-2 friendly loss at AS Monaco on Saturday, with the centre back having since gone for scans on the problem to ascertain just how bad the injury is and for how long he will be out of action for.
All of which means that Villas-Boas will now have to act fast if he wants to bring in some much-needed defensive cover before the new top-flight campaign gets under way in two weeks’ time, with the club having been heavily linked with in-demand Steau Bucharest centre-half Vlad Chiriches of late.
The Romania international, who has a contract with Steau that runs until June 2015, is expected to cost Spurs £8 million if they can seal a deal for the defender.