Tottenham have increased their interest in Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. Molineux chiefs are open to offers for their £10million summer signing, who has failed to impress in the Black Country this season and remains second in charge behind Jose Sa. Spurs number 1 Guglielmo Vicario is not expected to be sidelined until the end of this month at the earliest after requiring surgery on a broken foot suffered in the 4-0 win over Man City in November. Fraser Forster has since stepped in to fill the Italian's void, but Ange Postecoglou and the Tottenham hierarchy believe the club need to think about strengthening their options between the sticks as the grueling wait for the return of Vicario has proven to be painful.
Furthermore, the 35-year-old is also out of contract at the end of the season, when he is expected to leave North London. Crucially, Johnstone is also a homegrown player who is of added importance to Spurs. The 31-year-old England international moved from Crystal Palace to Wolves in August under the assumption he would be the club's number one goalkeeper under Gary O'Neil. He had previously lost his starting place to Dean Henderson at Selhurst Park and argued for a summer move, but has since proved unconvincing in his quest to leapfrog Sa after a series of shaky displays. Whether he would accept a move to Spurs knowing he would likely be little more than a No. 2 remains to be seen. Initially, Postecoglou had indicated he was willing to show faith in Forster until Vicario was given the green light to return to action, but the veteran's sloppy distribution has only put more pressure on Tottenham's injury-ravaged backline.
Spurs are also thought to have a number of other goalkeepers on their radar, including Burnley's James Trafford, but the Clarets man is unlikely to come cheap as he has also attracted admirers at Newcastle. Tottenham are also open to reinforcements in defense – at centre-back and left-back – and would also like to sign a new striker if the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, Wolves remain interested in Toulouse goalkeeper Guillaume Restes, who could be targeted again if Johnstone leaves Vitor Pereira's relegation battlers. Wolves approached the France U21 international last summer but their claims were quickly shot down. Restes has also been scouted by other Premier League clubs and teams from across Europe. Only the Barcelona duo Pau Cubarsi and Lamine Yamal scored more minutes in the first half of the season than Restes (2861) in the top five in Europe.
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