Football
Exclusive: Portsmouth And West Brom Enter to Race to Sign Former Spurs Defender Japhet Tanganga
Portsmouth and West Brom are in a £2million race to sign Millwall defender Japhet Tanganga, who has impressed in the Championship. Premier League clubs, including Sunderland and Burnley, are also interested in the former Tottenham player. Tanganga is keen to play in the top flight again after feeling he didn't fulfil his potential at that level.
Tottenham Hotspur v Olympique Marseille: Group D - UEFA Champions League by James Gill - Danehouse | Getty Images
Millwall defender Japhet Tanganga is wanted by Portsmouth and West Brom in a deal which could be worth £2million, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.
The former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back starred for the Lions last season on loan in the Championship.
But promoted Pompey and the Baggies face stiff competition from Premier League Sunderland, who have already expressed their desire to sign the player, as well as Burnley, who have made provisional enquiries about the player who is under contract until 2027 with the option of a further year.
Our sources have learnt the 26-year-old centre-back would relish the chance to play in the top-flight again, especially having felt he didn’t fulfil his potential at the top level.
Tanganga played 43 times for the Lions last term finished eighth in the second tier and narrowly missed out on the play-offs. He was a top performer for the South East London outfit.
But the club are resigned to losing the former England Under-21 international despite having won the club’s prestigious Player of the Year award last season.
Tanganga started his career with Spurs having spent a decade with the club’s academy system.
However, he played just 27 times in the Premier League across five seasons and has spent the last two seasons out on loan to get regular football.
WASTED LOAN MOVE
Amazingly he didn’t play a single game for German Bundesliga side FC Augsburg despite signing for them on a season-long loan deal in September 2024.
He returned to Spurs just four months later and joined Millwall until the end of the season.
Tanganga impressed across 18 league games and then cemented himself a regular starting role last season.
But his impressive performances at the heart of the Lions’ back line has brought with it plenty of interest from other clubs.
Pompey stormed to the League One last term and keen to sign players with Premier League experience as they gun for back-to-back promotions with big-money backers, while West Brom are hungry to add defensive quality having frustratingly missed out on promotion the past few seasons having promised so much.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.