{"id":425709,"date":"2026-01-20T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/425709\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:12:10","slug":"tottenham-now-making-moves-to-beat-aston-villa-to-pierre-kalulus-signature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/425709\/","title":{"rendered":"Tottenham now making moves to beat Aston Villa to Pierre Kalulu&#8217;s signature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/tag\/tottenham-hotspur\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> are now making moves to sign a &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; Champions League player, who is attracting widespread interest from within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/premier-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>                        Spurs keen on new defender amid Van De Ven uncertainty<\/p>\n<p>Micky van de Ven has been one of Tottenham&#8217;s most important players this season, making 29 appearances in all competitions, but the centre-back&#8217;s future in north London is now in doubt, as he is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/micky-van-de-ven-tottenham-refusing-new-contract-thomas-frank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">refusing<\/a> to sign a new contract while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/tag\/thomas-frank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Thomas Frank<\/a> is at the club.<\/p>\n<p>That is according to transfer insider Dean Jones, who said: &#8220;He has been one of the few players to show spells of consistency and decent form this season, but Tottenham face losing him if their season is not salvaged as he has been unconvinced by the project.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It remains to be seen how much longer Frank is able to last in the Spurs dugout, with his side in torrid form, winning just one of their last eight matches in all competitions, and the 2-1 defeat against a struggling West Ham United side last time out was a particular low point.<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"1376\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Spurs manager points per game - Thomas Frank\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/spurs-manager-points-per-game-thomas-frank.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/spurs-manager-points-per-game-thomas-frank.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p> The Lilywhites will no doubt be hoping Van de Ven has a change of heart, should a top manager be brought in to replace the Dane, but amid the uncertainty surrounding the Dutchman&#8217;s future, new centre-backs are being identified as targets.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, it was revealed Tottenham are now in the race for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/man-utd-now-battling-tottenham-in-race-to-sign-juventus-pierre-kalulu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu<\/a>, and there has now been a development in their pursuit of the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report from Tutto Juve (via Sport Witness), <a href=\"https:\/\/sportwitness.co.uk\/tottenham-and-aston-villa-fight-for-big-player-spurs-move-to-beat-emerys-side\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Spurs are now making moves to sign Kalulu<\/a>, who is being targeted for the summer transfer window, rather than January.<\/p>\n<p>Aston Villa and Manchester United have also set their sights on the Juventus star who has been described as a &#8216;big player&#8217;. He could cost \u20ac30m (\u00a326m), although there are doubts over whether the Italian club will even be willing to sanction a departure.<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"440\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tottenham Hotspur Stadium-1\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tottenham-hotspur-stadium-1.JPG\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/tottenham-hotspur-stadium-1.JPG\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    Related<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/thomas-frank-tottenham-sack-update-ange-postecoglou-spotted-in-london\/\" title=\"&quot;Incredible&quot; manager spotted in London as Venkatesham holds Monday Tottenham meeting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t&#8220;Incredible&#8221; manager spotted in London as Venkatesham holds Monday Tottenham meeting<br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">Thomas Frank is under serious pressure<\/p>\n<p>The north Londoners are set to battle Villa for the Frenchman&#8217;s signature, however, having been particularly attracted by his versatility, with the defender able to play at both centre-back and right-back.<\/p>\n<p>                        Kalulu could be &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; signing for Spurs<\/p>\n<p>Lauded as &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; by scout <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-news-pierre-kalulu-january\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jacek Kulig<\/a>, the one-time France international has been a key player for Juventus this season, making 28 appearances in all competitions, displaying his quality on the front foot by contributing one goal and four assists.<\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballfancast.com\/worse-than-porro-spurs-tottenham-gray-will-get-frank-sacked\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pedro Porro<\/a> receiving criticism due to his defending, it would make sense to bring in a more defensive right-back this summer, and the Lyon-born ace has played a part in Juventus keeping four clean sheets in their last seven Serie A games, particularly impressing against Sassuolo.<\/p>\n<p>Pierre Kalulu&#8217;s key statistics vs Sassuolo<\/p>\n<p>Number completed<\/p>\n<p>Tackles<\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Interceptions<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>Clearances<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>Accurate passes<\/p>\n<p>60\/66 (91%)<\/p>\n<p>Kalulu, who has made six Champions League appearances this season, could be a solid signing for Tottenham, but their number one priority should be to secure Van de Ven&#8217;s future, given how important the Netherlands international has been this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tottenham Hotspur are now making moves to sign a &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; Champions League player, who is attracting widespread interest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-425709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}