Spurs join multiple clubs in chase for England U-19 captain's signature

The international break might interrupt league play for a couple of weeks, but it does nothing to slow down transfer rumors. While most of the Tottenham senior squad are away on international duty, the club appears to already be looking at ways to strengthen the squad in the upcoming summer transfer window.

According to ESPNFC.com, Spurs are joining West Ham, Southampton, and Crystal Palace in a race to see who can sign England U-19 captain and current Lens defender Taylor Moore.

Moore, who spent time with the West Ham academy as a child, is currently playing at Lens after his family moved to France at the age of seven.

The 18-year-old central defender has made five appearances in the Lens first-team and progressed through the England youth ranks from U17 to U19.

A source close to the player told ESPN FC said Spurs, West Ham, Palace and Southampton have all sent scouts to watch him play for England's U19s in their Elite Round of games against Georgia, Greece and Spain in the next five days.

If the situations sounds familiar, that's because it sounds almost exactly like Eric Dier's transfer from Sporting almost two years ago. Moore is quite aware of the similarities and even discussed them back in August.

Moore has been tipped to follow in the footsteps of Eric Dier, who has become a key part of Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham side as well as earning two caps with the senior England team.

Speaking in August, Moore told the Daily Mail: "I admire Eric Dier very much, he's got the exact same story as me.

"He's been brought up in Portugal and played his football out there and I admire him for making the leap back over to England and doing as well as he did last season.

"I still feel I'm far from what I could possibly do. Dier moved back at the right time. I think it would be interesting to see what I could still achieve out here in France."

While the situation of moving to another country is almost a mirror image between him and Dier, playing time is a different story. Dier made 26 appearances for Sporting before his transfer to Tottenham. Moore has only made nine appearances for RC Lens' senior squad, but gets regular time with their U-21 squad and is highly regarded in their youth academy.

Moore isn't the prototypical big body center back. He's only six feet tall, but he is often praised for his instincts and knowledge of the game. It's unclear just what the 18-year-old would cost in the terms of a transfer, but we can always hope for a Dier situation where someone just casually leaks what the release clause is to force the move, right?

We'll watch this rumor later on when we hit the summer months. Since this is coming from Peter O'Rourke, we know his sources are usually correct more often than not.