Roma Circle Tottenham's Discontented Duo as Spurs Scramble for January Fixes

Tottenham's January headaches are piling up. The north London club have fielded approaches from Roma for a pair of disgruntled squad members, with the Serie A side keen on both Radu Dragusin and Mathys Tel on temporary deals.

The timing hardly comes as a surprise. Spurs are languishing in 14th place in the Premier League after winning just seven of their 22 matches, with Thomas Frank's side managing only one victory across their last eight outings in all competitions. The pressure is mounting on the Tottenham manager to effect some sort of rescue operation in the transfer market.

Tel's frustration has been particularly acute. The French striker, who arrived permanently from Bayern Munich last summer, found himself omitted from Tottenham's Champions League squad list ahead of the Borussia Dortmund fixture—a snub that left the player and his representatives distinctly unhappy. According to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Frank made space for Dominic Solanke by removing Tel from the European competition, a decision that has clearly soured the relationship.

Now Gazzetta dello Sport report that Roma are actively pursuing both Tel and Dragusin this month. While the Italians' interest in the Romanian centre-back has been an open secret for some time, their entry into the Tel sweepstakes represents a fresh development. Both moves are understood to be loan arrangements, with the players eager for regular football during the second half of the campaign.

Dragusin, it seems, has already signalled his willingness to make the switch to the Stadio Olimpico, though Tottenham are holding out for an obligation to purchase clause rather than accepting a straightforward temporary arrangement.

The chaos extends further down the pecking order. Alejo Veliz, currently on loan at Rosario Central in Argentina, represents another problem Tottenham are keen to solve. Argentine media outlet Cadena 3 suggests the club are seriously contemplating paying compensation to terminate the arrangement early—effectively writing a cheque to get the player off the books. From there, Tottenham are eyeing a sale to Brazilian outfit Bahia.

The language used by sources close to Veliz rather sums up how Spurs view the situation: for them, he is "a problem," and they would happily fork out "a hefty sum to fix the broken-down car."