Everton manager Sean Dyche has heaped his focus on rejuvenating the offensive verve at Goodison Park this summer after the club narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League last year.
Having concluded the 2022/23 campaign as the division's second-lowest scorers, the Toffees have completed deals for Youssef Chermiti, Arnaut Danjuma and Jack Harrison, also closing on a £15m deal with Southampton for striker Che Adams.
Yerry Mina and Conor Coady both left the club in June, however, and as such Dyche is hoping to provide his squad with a defensive acquisition before the transfer window slams shut in little over a week.
What's the latest on Japhet Tanganga to Everton?
According to Inter Live, Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Japhet Tanganga is no longer on Inter Milan's radar as the Serie A side close on a deal for Bayern Munich defender Benjamin Pavard.
Read the latest Everton transfer news HERE…
The report claims that while newly-promoted Premier League outfit Luton Town are in pole position, Everton are also poised to make their move at the business end of the summer market.
How good is Japhet Tanganga?
Once praised as "outstanding" by pundit Gabby Agbonlahor, Tanganga has amassed 50 appearances for Tottenham since rising through the club's youth ranks, but at 24 of age, he now needs to leave in search of a regular starting role.
Once remarked to have dominated both Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling by Alan Shearer, the 6-foot titan boasts a career pass success rate of 83% and an average of 1.3 tackles and 2.3 clearances across his Spurs career, as per WhoScored, emphasising the impressive attributes at the core of his defensive skill set.
Indeed, the versatile £25k-per-week defender would bring a newfound presence to the Goodison Park ranks and could adequately provide depth following Mina and Coady's departures, and he could even find his feet and surpass Michael Keane as he acclimatises to life on Merseyside.
Keane, who has played 121 matches for Dyche at both Everton and Burnley, fell out of contention before the 52-year-old manager's appointment in January but started 11 of the final 14 matches of the 2022/23 season and has started Everton's opening two matches this term.
Harangued for his "amateurish defending" by the Liverpool Echo's Tony Scott last season, the £80k-per-week dud ranks among the bottom 2% of centre-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, highlighting his flawed efforts at the back.
Tanganga, indeed, maintains a career passing average of 83% and would provide a far greater sense of ball-playing security than his 30-year-old peer, who has also been called a "defensive liability" by journalist Richard Buxton.
Once praised as "really special" by Sky Sports pundit and commentator Gary Neville, Tanganga would finally get his career up and running at Goodison Park and could cement his stature as a Premier League-level defender by pushing for a regular starting berth in Dyche's team, replacing the struggling Keane and confirming a new chapter for the club.
The necessity for depth is paramount, and while he is inexperienced, the physicality and rounded skill set he would bring could prove an astute piece of business for Everton, who now need to focus on navigating away from the lower echelon of the Premier League table.