Tottenham join Crystal Palace in race to sign defender

Frank de Boer is interested in signing Ajax defender Joel Veltman, but he’ll face a battle with Tottenham to get the centre-back to Selhurst Park.

As reported by Matt Law of the Telegraph, the 25-year-old is on Palace’s list of potential new centre-backs as they feel like they will be unable to get Mamadou Sakho from Liverpool with the Reds asking for around £30million for him.

Veltman is about to enter the final year of his contract with the Amsterdam-based side so Palace will hope to get him for a reduced fee.

Tottenham are also looking at Veltman as a backup option to Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen with current deputy Kevin Wimmer being linked with a move away.

However, Palace will hope that a better chance of regular first-team football could be enough to persuade the Dutch international to move to Selhurst Park rather than Whie Hart Lane/Wembley as in a World Cup year, he’ll need to be playing more often than not.