Tottenham are keeping an eye on Sevilla defender Alberto Botia and may move for the Spaniard if either William Gallas or Steven Caulker leaves White Hart Lane. The Mail believes Andres Villas-Boas wants the 24-year-old former Barcelona centre-back to take over in the centre of his defence as he plans next season's title bid.

Tottenham
Reuters

Wigan Athletic and Swansea City have also been credited with an interest but a formal bid, from any party, has yet to be made. Botia joined the Sanchez Pizjuan club last summer but has made only 13 La Liga starts so far, with one goal to his name.

Spurs' interest in signing defensive cover is the result of an injury-hit season for key players. French centre-back Younes Kaboul has been out for most of the season with a knee problem, while former Arsenal defender Gallas has displayed reasonable form but lacks consistency and is 35 years old. AVB was spared further problems by the signing of Belgian Jan Vertonghen and the form of Englishman Michael Dawson, who, incidentally, was transfer listed at the start of the season.

Tottenham are presently fifth in the Premier League and barring slip-ups from either Arsenal or Chelsea, in the final two games of the season, will not qualify for the Champions League next season. They trail their north London rivals by two points and the Blues by three and face Sunderland and Stoke City in their final two games.

Dawson on Chelsea Draw

Meanwhile, Dawson has praised his team mates for a brave display against the Blues on Wednesday. Spurs travelled to west London for a midweek league fixture against Rafael Benitez's side and desperately needed to win, or at least draw, to ensure they remained in the race for Champions League football next term.

Brazilians Oscar and Ramires scored for the home side but Togo international Emmanuel Adebayor and Iceland's Gylfi Sigurdsson pulled the visitors back into the game and the sides settled for a 2-2 draw.

"It was a gutsy performance from the whole team, we just couldn't get the three points. We gave ourselves an uphill climb by giving the early goal away, a disappointing goal to concede from a defensive point of view, but then got a great goal from Ade. They scored again before the break and we got in at half-time and knew we had to stick together, to keep believing and we did that," Dawson told Tottenham's official Web site.

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