Are Juventus and Inter really interested in Vlad Chiriches?

It seems, gentle readers, that the wilds of #batcountry encroach upon our consciousness even earlier than ever these days. Our good friend Gianluca DiMarzio has suggested that both Juventus and Inter Milan are interested in making a loan bid for our ersatz Romanian defender Vlad Chiriches when the mid-season transfer window opens in January.

OK, look. Vlad hasn't exactly had the best time of it since arriving at Spurs last summer. The Romanian captain was considered a diamond in the rough when he signed for Andre Villas-Boas, and so he wasn't ever expected to waltz into the starting lineup immediately. Since Mauricio Pochettino took over, his starts (and even bench appearances) have declined dramatically. And then the Besiktas match happened.

So the idea of the Italian champions going after a player who has struggled with the physicality of the English league isn't entirely far-fetched. Vlad probably would do better in the slower-paced Serie A than he would in England. Both Juventus and Inter have some pretty big defensive injury problems at the moment, but even so, it seems like there would be far better defensive prospects out there than Vlad Chiriches. However, it would indicate that Poche has completely given up on Vlad, and might... just might... indicate that we'd be looking for our own defensive cover.

Let's say for a moment that it happens. It leaves Spurs with a CB stable of Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul, Federico Fazio, and Eric Dier, assuming Spurs don't sign or loan someone else. Decent enough, I guess, when Kyle Walker gets healthy and assuming Kaboul doesn't go down with a broken tibia or something. But that still leaves us with the unlikely possibility that the champions of Italy are for some reason interested in loaning our 4th/5th choice CB. Inter? They're a hot mess, so who knows what they'll do.

In other words, don't bank on it. But it is sort of fun to think about it, isn't it?