Tottenham Hotspur look to secure services of center back Andersen

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Daniel Levy and Jean-Michel Aulas walk into a bar to discuss a potential transfer.

As terrible as my humor can be, it seems the two chairmen are destined for talks if Mike McGrath and Sam Dean are correct in their assessment: Tottenham Hotspur are wanting another crack at signing Fulham loanee Joachim Andersen, who will be returning to the French side this summer.

Tottenham are in pole position to land Joachim Andersen following Fulham’s relegation but Arsenal are ready to compete for the Denmark international.

Andersen is seen as a replacement should David Luiz move from the Emirates Stadium this summer, which is set to test the club’s ability to attract players without European football.

Spurs are admirers of the 24-year-old, who returns to Lyon before he is expected to move for £20m. They need to trim their squad before moving for players. Ryan Mason currently has five centre-backs to choose from.

In terms of actual substance, there’s little of that here but it’s not the first time Spurs have been linked to the 24-year-old in the past couple of months. Spurs have been admirers of Andersen for a couple of seasons now. If you’ll recall, while Levy was trying to negotiate the Tanguy Ndombele deal, he wanted to secure Andersen from Sampdoria. Levy couldn’t do both and Aulas snuck in the back door to lock down the Danish center back.

That move for Andersen hasn’t exactly been a good one. He made 32 appearances for the French side across all competitions, but found himself on the bench in seven of the last twelve matches Lyon played. He was sent to Craven Cottage to get playing time under Scott Parker and newly-promoted Fulham. Now that the Cottagers are on their way back to the Championship and Lyon aren’t interested in giving him a chance in the squad, they’re going to try and get what they can for him.

Andersen was a bright spot for Fulham, good enough to be given the Captain’s armband. He’s strong in the air and also decent on the ball. Spurs desperately need to refresh their back line and Andersen has gotten better since his Sampdoria days.

The price tag of £20m doesn’t seem like a bad one, if that’s accurate. Aulas will want to get back as much of the £21.6m he paid for him so that’s probably a fair asking price. Aulas, like Levy, is known for being a clever negotiator and these two clashing again is sure to provide some great quotes if negotiations do occur. Watching Andersen at Fulham quite a bit this season has shown he can play in the Premier League and should be a good fit for a Spurs side that need help.