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Tottenham 'have Victor Wanyama of Southampton on their wanted list'

Victor Wanyama of Southampton in action
Image: Mauricio Pochettino brought Victor Wanyama to Southampton

Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama is a transfer target for Tottenham, according to Sky sources.

It is understood Spurs are discussing whether to sign a new central midfielder before the deadline and 24-year-old Wanyama is on their list of possible candidates as well as Alex Song.

And Sky sources believe Wanyama, who has scored three goals in 66 appearances for Southampton, is keen on working with former Saints manager Mauricio Pochettino again.

Spurs would face staunch resistance from Southampton, however, who have insisted via their head coach Ronald Koeman that they do not intend to sell any more players this summer.

Image: Relations between Southampton and Tottenham are strained following Spurs' signing of Toby Alderweireld

Relations between the clubs are also understood to be poor after Spurs signed Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid, despite Saints believing they already had a deal in place to sign the Belgian following his loan spell last term.

Koeman said: "There is no bid for any player. Not for Wanyama, not for Sadio, not anyone.

"We have to deal with rumours of the press and maybe somebody of Manchester [United] - I don't know.

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"There is no contact and no bid for nobody and we don't sell any more players. That is very clear in my opinion. I don't like [these rumours] because maybe players are thinking and they are not then focused on what they have to do.

"The timing is always bad. Maybe it's worse one day before we play at home but it's always bad. We keep going. It is not September 1 yet. There are still 10 or 11 days to go, so we will see what happens."

Tottenham have sold midfielders Lewis Holtby, Benjamin Stambouli, Etienne Capoue and Paulinho this summer but they still have a number of central players including Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, Mousa Dembele, and youngster Harry Winks.

Centre-back Eric Dier has also been deployed in a deep-lying central position and it is understood Pochettino sees potential in the young England U21 in that position.

Southampton's Victor Wanyama (left) and Newcastle United's Georginio Wijnaldum battle for the ball
Image: Wanyama (left) and Newcastle United's Georginio Wijnaldum battle for the ball

Wanyama started his career with Belgian side Beerschot AC and has two years left on his current Southampton contract. The Kenyan moved to St Mary's from Scottish Premiership title holders Celtic two years ago for a fee of £12m.

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