Napoli, Ajax could make approach for Jan Vertonghen

It’s January 2 and the midseason transfer window is now open. And while Tottenham Hotspur aren’t known for making big waves in the January window, that’s not going to stop the rumors from flowing like water.

The biggest player tipped to potentially leave this month is Christian Eriksen, but another possibility is Jan Vertonghen. The 32 year old CB is out of contract in June, which means he is now free to sign a pre-contract with any club he wishes beginning this month. Or, he could potentially be sold if Spurs want to cash in on him now instead of losing him for free in six months.

According to the Telegraph, there are two continental clubs that have an eye on buying Super Jan this month — Napoli, and Ajax. Napoli is under new manager Gennaro Guatuso, who joined after Carlo Ancelotti was fired in early December, and Guatuso supposedly wants a new central defender to help stabilize their defense and push back in contention for a Champions League position.

Ajax would also make a lot of sense — it’s Vertonghen’s old club, and it would certainly be poetic for Jan to return to his first club where he came out of the academy in the waning years of his career.

There had been talk that Vertonghen might also be interested in signing a short extension with Tottenham, though based on the past few matches it certainly appears as though he’s lost a step of pace. The Telegraph notes that there “have been no breakthroughs” in negotiations.

I don’t know how likely it is that Vertonghen leaves this month. Part of it may come down to the left back situation at Spurs — if Rose is brought in from the cold or Ryan Sessegnon is deemed able to play in that role, or if Ben Davies makes a somewhat recentish return from his injury, it might not hurt as badly to let Jan go for a small transfer fee. It seems as though there are currently too many moving parts in Spurs’ potential window to know for sure.