Postecoglou says Tottenham are likely to be busy in the January window

Ange Postecoglou has given his strongest hint yet that Tottenham will look to strengthen their squad in the January transfer window.

Spurs have suffered injury problems in recent weeks with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Richarlison missing.

Postecoglou’s all-out attacking strategy has fallen short in his absence and Spurs head into Christmas in 11th place in the Premier League after Sunday’s 6-3 defeat at home to Liverpool .

Asked if he was looking forward to doing business when the window reopens next week, the Australian said: “As I said a while ago, we’ve been planning. A lot of it was going to be around where we’re in. It’s fair to say we’re still a little short in a couple of areas and need to strengthen.

“But January is more complicated in terms of what kind of players you can bring in. For us, ideally, for any club, I guess, you want to bring in people who make you stronger.

“I think the fact that we’re obviously still in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup, we’ve still got Europe, the FA Cup, we’re in all the competitions, it’s not that our schedule is going to speed up any time soon. So I think it makes sense. We will try to reinforce where and what number we will have to wait and see.”

News from Ange’s team ahead of our Boxing Day trip to Nottingham Forest 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Uiqnntmihk

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 24, 2024

Bentancur returns

Tottenham head to Nottingham Forest on Christmas Day boosted by the return from suspension of midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.

The Uruguay international has missed the last seven domestic games due to comments made about team-mate Son Heung-min, but will feature at the City Ground.

Left back Destiny Udogie is also available after injury.

Postecoglou added: “From the game, as far as I know, there is no problem. Destiny was on the bench, but he wasn’t 100% right and he should be right. Bentancur is available after discontinuation. That’s it for now.”

Back to the woods for Johnson

Brennan Johnson returns to his former club on Thursday after losing his place due to the form of Dejan Kulusevski, but Postecoglou is confident the Wales international will get his chance soon.

“Brennan just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” he said. “I’ve had Deki there and he’s done really well and scored goals. It’s about the balance of the team. It’s about managing that load. We are already overloading some of the players up there. Brennan will get his minutes.”