Pochettino: Vertonghen close to return, more signings likely, the defense is fine

Mauricio Pochettino expects to sign more players in the summer transfer window. Just don’t expect them to be first-team defenders. Spurs’ manager expressed confidence in his defense ahead of Friday’s International Championship Cup friendly match against Atletico Madrid in Melbourne, Australia.

"I expect some signings in the next few weeks -- we'll see what happens. We expect some activity, yes.

"Jan Vertonghen is in London but he is training very well now. He's very close to coming back. Wimmer, Alderweireld and Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama can play centre-back. And then young players like [Cameron Carter-Vickers] and [Dominic] Ball. We have enough players in that position"

Tottenham fans who tuned in to watch Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Juventus in Tuesday’s ICC friendly would be excused if they were a little skittish about the state of their team’s defense. Pochettino started U21 players Dominic Ball and Cameron Carter-Vickers at center back and both endured a horrific start to the match, surrendering two goals in the opening 15 minutes.

Spurs fans on social media immediately started fretting about Spurs’ defensive depth, with the suggestion that the club would be prudent to sign another central defender. Pochettino’s comments suggest that, if needed, has the confidence in his youngsters to give them an opportunity to play.

"The most important thing is that when they have the opportunity to show their quality, they take it. It's very good to play this type of game against teams consistently in the Champions League -- the biggest teams in the world. They can show their quality and personality and we can take a lot from these games.”

Meanwhile, the update on Jan Vertonghen is more than welcome. Spurs’ starting defender picked up an injury while playing with Belgium in this summer’s European Championships and was expected to be out 6-8 weeks.

Spurs are still negotiating the transfer of wide midfielder Georges-Kevin N’Koudou from Marseille, and it’s unclear whether his comments were in reference to that transfer or to additional moves in the window. Tottenham are also expected to sell or loan a number of reserve players out including Alex Pritchard, Nabil Bentaleb, Federico Fazio, and Clinton N’Jie. There have been rumors that Spurs are also looking at signing young players to help fill out the development squad, possibly anticipating the promotion of players like Harry Winks, Shayon Harrison, and Marcus Edwards to the first team.