Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur 'monitoring Borussia Monchengladbach's Ko Itakura'

Following loans spell at Groningen and Schalke 04, Itakura officially left Manchester City without having made a single appearance for the club when he completed a permanent transfer to Monchengladbach in July 2022.

The Japan international made 25 appearances for the German club in his debut campaign and has since featured seven times in the Bundesliga this term, but he has been sidelined since October with an ankle injury.

Itakura still has over two years remaining on his contract with Monchengladbach, who regard the defender as a valuable member of their first-team squad when fit.

However, the 26-year-old is understood to have attracted interest from a number of top European clubs, leading to speculation over his long-term future with the Bundesliga outfit.

According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, via CaughtOffside, Liverpool sent scouts to watch Itakura on several occasions last year.

Tottenham are also said to be monitoring the Japanese defender, who attracted interest from Ange Postecoglou during his time at former club Celtic.

Romano believes that developments regarding the future of Itakura, who is keen to move to the Premier League, are worth keeping an eye on having now entered 2024, as clubs including Liverpool and Spurs could look to open negotiations with Monchengladbach in either January or next summer.

Liverpool have been tipped to potentially move for a new central defender in the winter window ever since Joel Matip sustained an ACL injury in early December, which is set to rule him out for the rest of the season.

However, Jurgen Klopp still has four centre-back options at his disposal in the form of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah, and the Reds boss has previously played down the prospect of recruiting a replacement for Matip.

As for Spurs, they are expected to bolster their defensive options as Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are currently sidelined with injuries, leaving Eric Dier and 18-year-old Ashley Phillips as the club's only recognised centre-back options.

However, Phillips is yet to make his senior debut for the North Londoners, while Dier is seemingly deemed surplus to requirements under Postecoglou, who has recently preferred to play full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal in the heart of the defence.

As things stand, Genoa's Radu Dragusin is believed to be Tottenham's primary defensive target for January, and a recent report claims that they hope to finalise the signing of the Romanian by the end of this week.