Tottenham: Spurs win race to sign Cologne defender Kevin Wimmer

Tottenham have reportedly beaten arch rivals Arsenal to the signing of Cologne defender Kevin Wimmer in the summer.

Mauricio Pochettino has made strengthening his defence a priority this season after seeing his team conceding far too many goals this campaign. They have let by more goals than all their top four rivals, and only Newcastle United, Sunderland and the bottom three clubs have conceded more than the north London club in the league.

The Argentine manager has four central defenders at his disposal in Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier, Federico Fazio and Younes Kaboul, but apart from the former two, the others have failed to impress and are likely to be let go at the end of the current campaign.

Wimmer has been impressive for the Bundesliga club this campaign and his stats show that he has the capabilities to impress Pochettino and become a regular starter for Spurs, if he signs for the club.

The Austrian defender, who had already confirmed that the move to Spurs was close, has again reiterated the interest from the Premier League club, but believes that the deal will only take place at the end of the season.

"Nothing is fixed. Of course there is interest. But both teams have agreed that we should first concentrate on the league - and then we'll see," Wimmer said as quoted by Goal.

Arsenal had also registered an interest in signing the defender and his agent had confirmed that there were two other Premier League clubs also interested in the defender.

But it looks like Pochettino's team have got one over their rivals and landed the services of the defender, as the report claims that Tottenham have agreed a fee of around £4m for the defender, with personal terms also finalised.