Ange Postecoglou had already made his transfer needs clear when it comes to Tottenham's upcoming January window before Micky van de Ven's hamstring injury.

Spurs currently believe the young Dutchman does not require surgery on his right hamstring after pulling up in agony against Chelsea on Monday night. However, the timeline of the centre-back's recovery remains unclear until further assessment is undertaken and it's worth noting that Van de Ven's previous hamstring injury early last year kept him out for two-and-a-half months and he missed 12 matches for Wolfsburg.

Medical experts have told football.london that the worst case scenario for a hamstring that does not require surgery is around 12 weeks of recovery time, and that even grade three complete muscle tears - if Van de Ven was to have such a severe hamstring injury - sometimes do not require an operation. Much depends on how big the gap is between the tendon and the muscle where it was ruptured.

Postecoglou will deliver an update on Friday as to exactly what type of hamstring injury Van de Ven has and then whether he is at the top end of that 12-week mark or has got a shorter recover time.

One thing that is clear is that the Dutchman's injury, coupled with Cristian Romero's three-match suspension, means that Eric Dier is the only remaining fit and available senior central defender at the club. Eighteen-year-old Ashley Phillips could be drafted into the team to face Wolves in Saturday's lunch-time kick off.

That's because Tottenham simply have so few centre-backs. In the summer they let four go in allowing Clement Lenglet's loan from Barcelona to end, loaning out Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga and then after the English transfer window closed, they decided to sell Davinson Sanchez to Galatasaray.

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All along, after signing Van de Ven and then Philips as a youngster for the future, Postecoglou always made it clear that he wanted a second new senior centre-back to arrive in the summer transfer window. Dier's contract situation, with his deal coming to an end next summer, also made his status an awkward one.

"Some of [the areas needing new players] I had identified early on. I don't think it's any secret about some of the areas we needed to strengthen. The goalkeeper was one and central defence is another," he told football.london late in July.

"Yeah, I think that's definitely our intention [to sign a centre-back before the opener at Brentford], absolutely. We've been working on it for a while and we'll definitely try to get it done as quickly as possible."

Van de Ven arrived and then so did Phillips for the future and then while in Barcelona just before the season began, football.london asked the Australian if he wanted another centre-back to come in after that duo.

"Yeah potentially. Again we've got to make sure that we keep the squad manageable and see what happens with outgoings, but yeah the potential is there to bring in one more," he said.

However, no further centre-back came in despite links with Lloyd Kelly at Bournemouth and Chelsea's Trevor Chalobah and long-standing interest in Bayer Leverkusen defender Edmond Tapsoba, who signed a new five-year contract with the German club after the window closed.

Yet Spurs, approved by Postecoglou, agreed to let Sanchez leave for Turkey after the window closed in order to get some money in for a player who wanted to play regular football and like Dier was out of contract at the end of the current season.

The Tottenham boss knew instantly that it was a risky move with the lack of bodies at the back in his squad.

"It’s fair to say we are a little bit light there, but, at the same time, I thought for Davinson it was a good opportunity where he could get a long-term contract. We needed to rebuild and change this squad. There was no point us just tinkering around the edges. We need to do meaningful work, and it was never going to get done in just one window," Postecoglou told football.london.

"Just as important was to create the opportunity for us now to go in in January, or the subsequent windows and bolster up that area. It’s fair to say we need, probably, another centre-back within the squad. Although, we’ve got players who are fairly functional in being able to do us a job in there.

"We’ve got young Ash in, who is working really hard and improving all the time. For us, to hold on to him for some sort of security would have been a missed opportunity. We need to change this squad, rebuild this team, and that was the reason we allowed Davinson to go."

Postecoglou could not have been any clearer - "We need another centre-back within the squad" and that did not mean 16-year-old Luka Vuskovic, who will join Tottenham in 2025 from Hajduk Split.

It is now the job of Tottenham's new technical director Johan Lange and chief scout Rob Mackenzie, who started this week, to present a number of options to Postecoglou to complement those targets already likes and then the Australian will tell them and chief football officer Scott Munn which one he wants.

The head coach made it clear this week that in the summer he did not give the club multiple options from their list. Instead he would decide on the one that he felt best fit his system and then asked them to make it happen.

The same will happen again in January. Postecoglou taking such a strong lead on transfer decisions gives him more responsibility and culpability but also ensures the squad built is one in his own image rather than the disjointed, mish-mash of players his predecessors have worked with at times.

Postecoglou will also look at attacking players and midfielders should any be allowed to depart this winter - although Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr's involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations would complicate that. There are also high hopes for 19-year-old Alfie Devine, who is enjoying an impressive loan at Port Vale and could return next summer to challenge for a spot in Postecoglou's team.

In the attacking slots, Richarlison's groin surgery this week is expected to keep him out for weeks rather than months but Postecoglou did lose Ivan Perisic soon after the season began and then Manor Solomon with long-term injuries. Spurs will also be on the lookout for a number nine either this window or next, although Alejo Veliz's development will be closely monitored as will Dane Scarlett's at Ipswich.

"The January window, like for every club, is an important one," Postecoglou told football.london this month. "My view on the January one is that if you can get your business done early in the window it certainly is more helpful because you leave it until the end of January and sometimes what you try to gain you've missed that opportunity by waiting a whole month."

Postecoglou has said that it will be a multi-window process to create the squad he wants but it's already clear that January will be an important one and he does not want Tottenham to simply sit back, watch and hope for an opportunity to arise.