This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to German media outlet Bild, Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly interested in €50m-rated (£43m) Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria, and he is the defensive midfielder they need to allow Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele to flourish.

What's the word, then?

Well, Bild report that the current Bundesliga leaders feel that the Switzerland international is one of the players they could receive a club-record transfer fee for, with their current leader the €45m they got from Arsenal for Granit Xhaka.

Bild say that Monchengladbach feel they could get at least £43m for the 22-year-old, who is interesting a number of top European clubs.

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Spurs are among those according to the story, along with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Premier League rivals Manchester United.

As good as Wanyama pre-injury

The north London outfit have suffered without an out-and-out defensive midfielder in their team this season to protect the defence, with the likes of Winks, Ndombele and Moussa Sissoko playing in the deepest midfield roles -  the 10 goals they have conceded in their previous two fixtures is proof of that.

Mauricio Pochettino does have Victor Wanyama and Eric Dier available, but he clearly doesn't trust them given their lack of minutes this season.

To be fair to the Argentine, the former was awful when he came on in the 2-1 defeat to Leicester City last month as his recent injury issues appear to have caught up with him, while the latter doesn't look the same player that was such a mainstay in the starting XI during the early stages of the 47-year-old's reign at Tottenham – his first Premier League start of the campaign was last time out against Brighton.

Buying Zakaria would allow the likes of Winks and Ndombele to flourish going forward though, as it is a role he is playing with his club right now.

The 22-year-old is the deepest of Monchengladbach's central midfield trio – in a team that has only conceded six times in seven matches – and according to Bundesliga.com, he has a pass completion rate of 88% in the German flight this term.

A look back at his stats from this season and previous ones show he is more than on a par with Wanyama before he suffered his multiple injury issues with Spurs, as he averaged 2.5 tackles and 1.5 interceptions in the 2017/18 season, and 2.3 tackles and 1.4 interceptions this term, as per WhoScored.

Meanwhile, the Kenya international's most consistent run in the starting XI came when Tottenham finished second in 2016-17, with his defensive stats standing at 2.5 tackles and 1.1 interceptions in 36 Premier League outings when Pochettino's men only let in 26 goals.