Spurs have a number of recognised senior centre backs - Jan Vertonghen, Michael Dawson, Vlad Chiriches and Younes Kaboul - but, Vertonghen aside, it's hard to decide which of the others is the better player and, therefore, which should play alongside the Belgian in Spurs' strongest team. Dawson - the club captain - is consistently steady, but whether or not he is a top four player is open to debate. Younes Kaboul is undoubtedly a top defender - he was arguably the best centre half in the Premier League just a few seasons ago - but his career has been badly inhibited by a long-standing knee problem that makes his future extremely uncertain. Chiriches is showing promise, but he is still very inexperienced in the Premier League and it could be argued that he is too similar to Vertonghen to regularly play alongside him. Therefore, finding a quality and regular partner for Vertonghen may well involve signing a new player. Consequently, centre half is certainly a position that the new manager should be looking at. On their day, Spurs' defence is great - they've kept fourteen clean sheets in all competitions this season - but when they suffer an injury they can be terrible (having conceded six at Manchester City, five at home to Liverpool and three at home to West Ham United already this season). Whether or not this means signing a new player or sticking with the current crop remains to be season and is open to debate.
