Tottenham close in on highly rated centerback

Tottenham Hotspur appear to be on the verge of signing Mateo Musacchio from Villarreal. The central defender has been linked to the club for the last week and multiple reports have the transfer almost done. The deal will be for anywhere between £18 and £22 million, depending on which report you believe.

While Spurs were clearly interested in Musacchio, it looked much closer to a done deal on Saturday when the Argentina wasn't even on the bench for Villarreal's preseason friendly. He had played for the team in matches to that point, but was held out and no injury or sporting reason was given.

Musacchio won't come cheap for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that he is a very good 23-year-old central defender. That he has interest from a slew of clubs, with Barcelona even reportedly interested, only pushes his price higher. To add to it all, Villarreal have to give 35 percent of any fee they receive to River Plate as part of the sell-on clause from when they bought it. So if Tottenham can reel him in, or if anyone can, it will be for a pretty penny.

Mauricio Pochettino has been getting more out of Spurs' more underperforming players in the preseason, but he clearly wants to remake some of the squad too. The team is desperately in need of help at center back and Eric Dier is unlikely to be the answer -- at least not this season -- but Musacchio certainly can be.