Tottenham are set to sign the England Under-19 international Ashley Phillips after triggering the £3m release clause in his contract at Blackburn.
The 18-year-old centre-back signed a three-year contract with Blackburn last summer and won the Championship apprentice of the year award last season, during which he made 14 appearances across all competitions.
Spurs were interested in Phillips last summer and Ange Postecoglou remains keen to add at least one senior centre-back, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba and Wolfsburg’s Micky van de Ven of interest.
Phillips is scheduled to undergo a medical over the next 24 hours and could then fly to Asia to join Spurs on their pre-season tour.
Spurs are in Australia, where they lost 3-2 to West Ham on Tuesday. After the game Postecoglou said: “I don’t think it’s any secret about some of the areas we needed to strengthen. The goalkeeper was one and central defence is another.”
Tottenham recently addressed their need for a goalkeeper with the €19m arrival of Guglielmo Vicario from Empoli, and the midfielders James Maddison and Manor Solomon have also joined.