Tottenham Hotspur are considering a move for the Borussia Dortmund and Germany centre-half Matthias Ginter. The 23-year-old is a target for Hoffenheim, who value him at around €17m (£14.8m) and need a replacement for Niklas Süle, who has joined Bayern Munich for €20m. Tottenham, though, could step in with a counter-offer.

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Mauricio Pochettino was interested in Ginter last summer and the Tottenham manager admires him for his tactical flexibility and comfort on the ball. Pochettino has spoken on numerous occasions about how Tottenham must be smart in the transfer market, as they cannot compete in financial terms with their rivals at the top of the Premier League, and Ginter could turn out to be a value signing.

Ginter was a member of Germany’s victorious 2014 World Cup squad, although he did not play, and when he moved from Freiburg to Dortmund for €8.5m after the finals he was rated as one of the most promising centre-backs in Europe. He has not yet fulfilled his potential and he was left out of Germany’s squad for Euro 2016 but he has shown flickers of what he can do at Dortmund.

The club parted company with the manager Thomas Tuchel last week and they have replaced him with Peter Bosz, who led Ajax to the Europa League final in this past season. Ginter wants to know where Bosz sees him as fitting into his plans.