Tottenham Hotspur are one of the sides who are said to be sniffing around the Manchester City centre-back Aymeric Laporte ahead of the summer transfer window.
Is Laporte leaving City this summer?
According to reports, the Premier League champions are now opening to allowing the Spaniard to leave in the summer as he looks for more regular action.
And one of the sides said to be interested in the possibility of signing him are Spurs as they aim to keep the 28-year-old in the Premier League.
However, it is also said the French giants Paris Saint-Germain could make a push for the City defender in the summer as City open their doors for an exit.
Spurs have been linked with a number of centre-backs over recent months with Kim Min-jae and Alessandro Bastoni both believed to be targets on Tottenham's radar.
The Lilywhites are expected to make a push in the summer to address their defence with two new centre-backs believed to be on the agenda.
And speaking on the Talking Transfers podcast, insider Graeme Bailey has claimed Laporte is a potential candidate to help solve their defensive issues from this season:
(32:25) "Laporte and his people have been going around Europe letting people know he's available and Tottenham are one of the ones who've had a sniff.
"To be fair, he's a very good Premier League centre-half, isn't he? Outside the top two or three, he would improve most teams, I think, or at least get a game.
"So yeah, I think there'll be a lot of interest in Laporte. It wouldn't surprise me to see him cross the Premier League."
Would Laporte improve the Spurs defence?
Tottenham's defence has been a major concern this season with the north London club only registering a +12 goal difference despite being the league's third-highest scorers.
Spurs have now conceded 41 goals this season and are joined as the eight-worst defence in the league alongside the relegation-battling Everton.
There has to be a caveat when looking at Laporte's stats from this season as his game time has been extremely limited with just 555 minutes of league action under his belt after the "warrior" underwent knee surgery last year (via Transfermarkt).
On top of that, the £120k-per-week ace is playing for one of the most dominant forces in Europe who have only conceded 26 goals in the Premier League this season.
Therefore, his return of 0.48 tackles per 90 minutes is significantly down on his return of more than double that (1.08) from last season where he made 33 league appearances (via FBref).
However, his ability on the ball has been sensational with the 28-year-old ranking inside the top third percentile for pass completion, progressive passes and carries.
And that is something which the Spurs defenders struggled with massively on Monday night as Eric Dier (16) and Clement Lenglet (11) were both victims of losing possession frequently (via SofaScore).
Laporte could also provide the Spurs backline with some much-needed experience and a winning mentality having won numerous trophies during his time at City.
But if the likes of PSG are going to fight for him over the summer, a move to north London could prove a challenging sell.