Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus have reportedly joined the race to sign Valencia's defensive protege Yarek Gasiorowski.

The 18-year-old is beginning to make a name for himself in the Valencia senior squad after graduating from their youth academy, making eight first-team appearances in the current campaign.

Gasiorowski - who stands at 6ft 3in tall - grew up learning his trade in the heart of defence, but he has been deployed as a left-back more often than not for Los Che over the past several weeks.

After making his senior debut against Mallorca in August, Gasiorowski earned his first two starts back-to-back against Girona and Getafe earlier this month, although Valencia lost both matches.

The 2005-born defender has also impressed in both boxes at international level, netting six goals in 17 appearances for Spain's Under-19s, including a remarkable hat-trick in a European Championship qualifier with Moldova last month.

Gasiorowski remains under contract with Valencia until 2025 with the option of a further two years, but his feats at domestic and international level are unsurprisingly beginning to attract interest from elsewhere.

Last month, it was reported that Arsenal were lining up an approach for the 18-year-old, but according to Fichajes, the Gunners' North London rivals Tottenham and Italian giants Juventus are also plotting a swoop.

Tottenham reinforced their defensive line with the summer acquisitions of Micky van de Ven and Ashley Phillips, the former of whom seamlessly slotted into Ange Postecoglou's system alongside Cristian Romero.

However, Postecoglou is now working without both of his first-choice centre-backs due to hamstring injuries, which Van de Ven sustained in a 4-1 loss to Chelsea at the start of November, while Romero picked up his problem against Everton on December 23.

Neither man is expected to return to first-team action for at least a few weeks, leaving Eric Dier as Tottenham's only senior central defender, although the Englishman is out of contract in 2024 and is not in Postecoglou's plans moving forward.

Rather than call upon Dier or the inexperienced Phillips to fill the defensive voids, Postecoglou initially partnered Romero with left-back Ben Davies before the former's injury, since when right-back Emerson Royal has provided cover.

However, Tottenham's rearguard shortages were apparent in their 4-2 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion last Thursday, and Postecoglou has confirmed that a new centre-back is priority number one in January.

Despite Gasiorowski's potential, Spurs are expected to pursue more seasoned options midway through the campaign and are thought to have earmarked Genoa's Radu Dragusin as a top target for the winter window.

Nice's Jean-Clair Todibo - also wanted by Manchester United - is admired by Tottenham chiefs too, but the Ligue 1 side are not expected to let the highly-rated Frenchman depart midway through the campaign.

Tottenham and Arsenal would both have the financial resources required to prise Gasiorowski away from Valencia, as would Juventus, but the Old Lady's first port of call in January will be strengthening the midfield. body check tags ::