Tottenham Hotspur: Things They Should Be Looking for in January Transfer Window

If it feels like just weeks ago that Tottenham Hotspur shelled out £108 million for new players, it was. Yet already, talk has turned to the January transfer window.

Andre Villas-Boas' side welcomed seven fresh faces to White Hart Lane over the summer while breaking their transfer record three times.

The arrival of high-quality new players ensured that Gareth Bale's departure was no body blow to the club—the changes prompting former Spurs player and pundit Garth Crooks to say, memorably: "Spurs have sold Elvis and signed the Beatles," as reported in the Mirror. 

At the time of writing, four wins, a loss and a draw sees Tottenham sitting third in the Premier League. They have kept four clean sheets and have conceded just two goals so far this season, against tough opposition in Arsenal and Chelsea.

The new players are starting to bed in. Christian Eriksen, for one, has started very brightly—the Dane looks every inch the star signing, a snip at £11 million, and is bringing much-needed creativity to the Spurs midfield.

In attacking positions, Spurs have a wealth of options in Eriksen, fellow new signing Erik Lamela, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Lewis Holtby, not to mention Nacer Chadli and Andros Townsend.

Paulinho has already struck a fantastic partnership in central midfield with Moussa Dembele, and Etienne Capoue has looked like a bargain buy at £9.6 million, before picking up an injury against Arsenal.

Roberto Soldado, who has been on the score sheet twice in the top flight, has shown flashes of a player befitting a £26 million price tag yet needs more time to find a cohesive relationship with the players behind him.

All looks promising, and it will not be a disaster if Spurs' purse strings remain tight in January. However, speculation will still be rife between now and then.

If AVB does look to strengthen during the next transfer window, one area that may need addressing is at left-back. Currently, Danny Rose is the only recognized player in that position, apart from Ezekiel "Zeki" Fryers.

Fryers came to the club last January. A product of the Manchester United youth academy, he has been used this season as a substitute in the Europa League and also played 90 minutes against Aston Villa in the League Cup. At 21, Fryers has no more experience to offer than Rose and will be used sparingly.

Others, like Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Naughton can deputise, but neither seems comfortable in the role, and they do not provide real competition for the young Englishman.

Rose seems to divide opinion at Spurs—he had an impressive season on loan with Sunderland last year, and many think that he deserves to be given the chance to hone his craft. Originally, the 23-year-old was a winger and perhaps needs more time to get into the left-back mentality. To do this, he needs to play. How else will young talent improve?

In other quarters, Rose's lapses in concentration and occasional poor positioning have seen calls for AVB to bring in a replacement.

One name that has been linked with the club is Real Madrid's Fabio Coentrao, who looked like he was on the brink of joining Manchester United on the eve of the summer transfer window before the move broke down, as reported by the BBC.

The Portuguese has been at the Bernabeu for two years and has plenty of experience in Europe, playing in the Champions League and Europa League with Madrid and former club Benfica.

Coentrao loves to get forward and provides depth, a similarity he shares with Rose. The pair are both accomplished defenders who are good at tackling, however the former is more successful at aiding attack—last season he had a better pass rate and made more key passes than Rose despite playing 10 fewer games, as seen on Squawka.

The 25-year-old was linked, as seen in The Independent, with Tottenham back in August. 

Coentrao has only played two full matches for Real Madrid so far this season, which has prompted rumours about a departure from the side in January, as reported by Sami Mokbel in the Daily Mail. 

Another option for AVB would be a recall of Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who is currently on loan at Queens Park Rangers with former boss Harry Redknapp. Competition for a starting berth would surely bring the best out of both Rose and Assou-Ekotto, giving Spurs a welcome selection headache.

Another area that the White Hart Lane side may look to strengthen is up-front. On the face of it, the striker situation may look healthy, but an injury to Soldado and Spurs are back to square one—reliant on Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored just 16 Premier League goals between them last term.

Soldado has two goals and an assist in six Premier League games. Both goals have been penalties. He has also registered two strikes against Dinamo Tbilisi in the Europa League.

Last season's statistics suggest that Soldado will get better as the season progresses. The striker scored 24 in 35 La Liga games with Valencia last term, with the majority of his goals coming in the second half of the season—the Spaniard only scored four in his opening 10 games before hitting his stride in winter and continuing throughout the rest of the campaign.

Jermain Defoe scored just one goal in the second half of last season, yet he has looked sharp for Spurs so far—scoring four in the Europa League and two in the League Cup. He's being used as a substitute in the top flight by AVB, and it would not be surprising to see him look elsewhere in January. 

The same goes for Emmanuel Adebayor, who recently returned to training with the club after three months of compassionate leave, following the death of his brother.

According to the Mirror's Darren Lewis, AVB will be forced to play Adebayor to try to increase any fee Spurs may get, should he be sold in January.

If Defoe and/or Adebayor leave the club this winter, who could be brought in to replace them?

In the Express, Ben Jefferson claims that the club are pursuing Santos forward Neilton. Dubbed "the next Neymar," the 19-year-old has reportedly turned down a contract extension with the Brazilian club.

Elsewhere, the Mirror's Dave Kidd reports that Spurs are interested in signing AC Milan's Stephan El Shaarawy.

Even Fernando LLorente has been linked with the club after being used sparingly since signing for Juventus in the summer, as seen by Danny Griffiths in Metro.

Between now and January, there's sure to be any number of big names linked with the club. Whom do you think Spurs need to sign? Let us know in the comments section below!