As Jose Mourinho looks forward to his first summer in charge at Tottenham, he will know that the north London side may require a lot of wheeling and dealing to get the squad in his own image.

The Lilywhites have endured a difficult campaign this season filled with injuries and off-the-pitch turbulence, and it’s no surprise that before football was postponed, they found themselves lying in eight place in the Premier League and seven points off the all-important top four.

With finances set to be tight due to the current climate, Mourinho will certainly be wary of potentially not getting all the signings he needs.

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But according to 90min, Spurs are the latest club to be interested in West Ham midfielder Declan Rice. And to even sweeten a potential deal to bring him across London, the Lilywhites are willing to offer Eric Dier as some sort of a part- exchange deal to convince the Hammers to sell one of their prized assets.

If Spurs can bring Rice to the club by offering smaller amount of money and giving back Dier, then it would go down as a masterstroke from Daniel Levy.

Dier hasn’t enjoyed the greatest seasons either on-the-pitch or off it, featuring only 14 times in the Premier League and of course getting into an altercation with a section of the Spurs support after the FA Cup defeat to Norwich earlier this year.

Both he and Rice are in a similar mould in terms of their playing styles, with the duo equally capable of playing the holding midfield role as they are at filling in at centre-back. But to put it bluntly, the latter is quite simply a much better upgrade on what Spurs currently have to offer.

As per Whoscored, Rice averages an impressive three tackles and 2.1 interceptions per game, and has a pass accuracy of 86.2% in the Premier League this season. Compare that to Dier, who averages just 1.4 tackles and 0.8 interceptions per game, and has a pass accuracy of 77.7%.

The Hammers man comfortably betters his Spurs counterpart in the key categories for their position, and it’s why Levy could kill two birds with one stone this summer. By getting rid of Dier, they would be cutting their losses on a player who just isn’t good enough at the level the Lilywhites need to be at.

And in the same deal, they would be getting someone in return who is markedly better and would improve Mourinho’s team straight off the bat.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans elated by this transfer report.