Tottenham Transfers: 10 Players for Harry Redknapp to Target in January

Things are going pretty well for Tottenham at the moment. Since they began the season by having their first fixture postponed and suffering back-to-back defeats to the two Manchester clubs, Spurs have gone nine games unbeaten in the Premier League, with a highly impressive eight wins in that run.

Their manager returned to the dugout following heart surgery for Monday's 2-0 home win over Aston Villa, a win which took them up to third in the table with a game in hand on the teams around them.

Luka Modric is playing as though he never asked for a transfer in the summer, while new signings Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor have settled into the team very quickly and are performing superbly.

But every football manager knows that complacency is the enemy of progress, and as such Harry Redknapp will already have one eye on the January transfer window for ways in which he can improve his squad still further. 

Steve Mandanda (Marseille)

One of the shrewdest summer signings of any club in the Premier League was Tottenham's capture of goalkeeper Brad Friedel on a free transfer after his contract at Aston Villa expired.

The 40-year-old has been an assured presence in between the sticks for Spurs after Heurelho Gomes's spell as the club's first choice constantly lurched from disaster to brilliance and back again.

However, with Friedel hardly a long-term solution and Carlo Cudicini not much younger, Redknapp must look elsewhere if he is hoping to find someone to come into the team and make the No. 1 shirt their own. 

To that end, he could do a lot worse than try to sign France international Mandanda from Marseille. He has proven himself a quality keeper for l'OM over the past four years, and at the age of 26 could be the fist name on the Spurs' team sheet for a decade.

Phil Jagielka (Everton)

The centre-back's performance for England against Spain recently underlined just what the former Sheffield United defender is capable of when faced with top-quality opposition.

Jagielka is strong and fearless both on the ground and in the air, but he is much more than just an old-school stopper, able to read the game well and not panic when the ball is at his feet.

Everton manager David Moyes knows this all too well, and has 'Jags' on a contract until 2015, but if Spurs are willing to splash out on a player who can be deployed at centre-back, full-back, defensive midfield and even in goal—as he once did for the Blades for the final half an hour of a win over Arsenal in 2006—then their squad will be hugely strengthened.

Nedum Onuoha (Manchester City)

Another versatile defender who would cost a lot less than Jagielka is Manchester City's Onuoha. The former England Under-21 international has been around for a long time—he made his debut in 2004—but only turned 25 years old earlier this month.

Onuoha's loan spell at Sunderland last season included a well-taken goal in the 3-0 win over Chelsea, and while the Black Cats' season went downhill after that, the Nigerian-born defender returned to Manchester with his reputation intact.

With the likes of Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott ahead of him in the pecking order at City, and having cost the club nothing, he could be available for next to nothing. Spurs could swoop to immediately sign an adequate replacement for Sebastien Bassong, who is expected to leave the club in January.

David 'Junior' Hoilett (Blackburn Rovers)

Last January, Spurs took advantage of Steven Pienaar only having six months left on his Everton contract by signing him for a piffling £3 million.

The South African went on to help his new club reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League, starting both legs of the last-16 tie against Milan.

If Redknapp is looking to repeat that trick this coming January, then Blackburn Rovers attacker David 'Junior' Hoilett seems the ideal target.

The Canadian has really announced his arrival in 2011, scoring eight Premier League goals this calendar year since netting his first ever in the competition against West Brom in January.

The 21-year-old's current deal at Ewood Park expires next summer, and if he declares that he does not intend to sign a new one then Rovers may decide it better to cash in on him before he goes for free.

Josip Ilicic (Palermo)

The 23-year-old Palermo playmaker has emerged over the past 18 months as one of the most promising young talents in Serie A. 

Since moving to the Stadio Renzo Barbera from Maribor in the summer of 2010, he has been a permanent fixture in the Palermo first team, and is an even more vital component following the summer departure of Javier Pastore.

Already, however, he is being touted with a big move, with Tottenham one of several Premier League clubs keeping close tabs on him.

The Slovenia international would cost a pretty penny, but he is a superstar in the making. 

David Beckham (LA Galaxy)

The former England captain appears to have brought down the curtain on his time in the US in typical Hollywood style, winning the MLS Cup in his final match at LA Galaxy.

While there is still a chance the 36-year-old will stay on at the Home Depot Center, a return to Europe seems the most likely outcome. Beckham has made no secret of his desire to represent Team GB at the 2012 Olympics, so playing in Europe in the build-up to the London Games makes a lot of sense.

Paris Saint-Germain appear to be front-runners for his signature, but he trained at Spurs last winter and Harry Redknapp, while playing down the possibility, did not rule out signing the midfielder.

He said: "Wherever he goes, he's going to want to play, so it's not going to be easy to say I can guarantee him a place in the team."

"I wouldn't say it's a definite no-no with Tottenham, but I think he's going to want to play regularly, that's the problem."

And it's not like Harry to do a U-turn after ruling out a player, is it?  

Moussa Sow (Lille)

An intriguing one, this. It is well known that Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko is desperate to leave Spurs and get regular first-team football with Euro 2012 just around the corner.

Pavlyuchenko has all the ingredients to be a top-class striker, but his career at Tottenham has never really taken off.

Redknapp has admitted his reticence to let 'Super Pav' leave, but if a rumoured swap deal with French champions Lille is in the offing, then he may have to reconsider.

Moussa Sow was the top scorer in Ligue 1 last season: his 25 goals fired LOSC to the title. While Gervinho, now at Arsenal, and Eden Hazard have claimed most of the credit, the Senegal international is certainly due his fair share, too.

With Gervinho and Yohan Cabaye already gone to England and Hazard announcing this will be his final season at the Stade Lille-Metropole, the 25-year-old may also be tempted into making the move across the Channel.

Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

It seems as though the 26-year-old striker is linked with a move to Spurs in every single transfer window.

So why should this one be any different?

The graduate of the Real Madrid academy never made it at his hometown club, but has since gone to score regularly at other clubs in La Liga.

Last season at Sevilla, for example, he scored 20 goals as he appeared in all 38 league games for Los Rojiblancos, and has seen a lot more action at international level since the last World Cup. 

Negredo certainly seems to have the physique and predatory instinct of a player who would thrive in the Premier League.

Emmanuel Adebayor (er... Tottenham Hotspur)

When Spurs signed Adebayor on loan from Manchester City, it seemed to be the perfect solution for all parties. Spurs got a big centre-forward to replace the departed Peter Crouch without paying a fee, City got at least one disgruntled troublemaker away from the training ground and the player himself got to play regular football again.

The plan always seemed to be that Spurs would benefit from Adebayor embracing his time in the shop window but not taking on the responsibility of him full time, allowing City to sell him on next summer.

Everybody wins.

Now, however, thoughts at White Hart Lane will turn towards signing the Togo striker permanently after his excellent start to the season. In nine Premier League games for Spurs, Adebayor has scored five goals and assisted another four. Such displays may soon see City hearing of interest from other clubs, or perhaps even tempt them into giving him another chance themselves.

If that form continues and the former Arsenal striker continues to get on well with his new teammates then it may not be long before the Spurs fans are chanting 'Harry, sign him up!'

Lukasz Podolski (FC Koln)

If Adebayor's wages and fee price him out of Tottenham's reach, then Podolski is reportedly one of the targets they have in mind to replace the Togolese.

The Polish-born Germany striker has finally recovered the scoring which saw him signed by Bayern Munich back in 2006.

Podolski has scored nine goals in 11 Bundesliga appearances this season for Koln, the club he left for Bayern following his scintillating showing at the World Cup in his adopted homeland.

Throughout all of his travails at club level—he was voted 'Flop of the Year' in a poll of his fellow professionals at the end of the 2009-10 season—his impressively consistent strike rate at international level suggests he still has the class to do damage to many a defence. 

After all, he still gives English back lines a nightmare every time he plays them, so a Premier League move may suit him down to the ground.