Botafogo defender Doria being eyed for Tottenham Hotspur Move

The papers are in full-on "link Tottenham Hotspur with everyone" mode at this point. Usually, Spurs a linked with just about every player angling for a move in Europe, but this summer, the press have shifted their attentions to players in South America. Not only are Tottenham rumored to be targeting Bernard, Leandro Damiao, and Paulinho, the North London club now appears to be entering the race for Botafogo defender Doria.

The 20 year-old defender who was recently voted the best defender at the Toulon tournament while playing with the Brazilian U-20 team has been attracting a lot of interest of late. Several third-party groups are interested in buying up the player's rights in order to put him in the shop window and then turn a big profit. The Mirror pegs the cost of those rights at €9 million and then believes that either Porto or Benfica will be interested in acquiring the player.

I think a lot of this rumor is predicated on the fact that Tottenham's presumptive Director of Football, Franco Baldini, was able to secure the signing of Brazilian centerback Marquinhos last summer and signing Doria might prove to be a similar coup. However, Tottenham already have five central defenders on the books, though William Gallas will be released at the end of the month, and manager Andre Villas-Boas has expressed that four is the most he wants to carry.

If Spurs were to acquire Doria it could mean a couple of things. First, it could signal that Younes Kaboul is not going to be ready for the start of the season and even if he is, the club may have long-term concerns about his fitness. Second, it could indicate that AVB doesn't have much faith in some of his other defensive options. I can't imagine the latter being true given how well Michael Dawson, Jan Vertonghen, and Steven Caulker performed. Caulker didn't play much down the stretch, but the pairing of Dawson and Vertonghen was doing so well there wasn't much that Caulker could do to break in.

I don't think there's much to this Doria rumor, but it would certainly be an exciting signing. However, we still need a striker. You know, just in case anyone forgot.