It's the third time this summer Middlesbrough have gone shopping in the same corner of Tottenham's squad.
Having already prised away striker Will Lankshear for a fee that could climb to a club-record £20m, Kim Hellberg's side are now working through what were described as difficult negotiations for centre-back Ashley Phillips, with talks now understood to be progressing toward an agreement.
The trigger for Spurs' willingness to sell is squad congestion rather than any doubt over Phillips's ability — the arrivals of Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi this summer have pushed the 21-year-old further down the pecking order at Hotspur Way, and with a permanent exit now the likeliest route to regular football, Tottenham are positioned to turn the £2m they paid Blackburn Rovers for him in 2022 into a considerable profit.
That regular football has come via the Championship rather than north London. Phillips spent the second half of one season on loan at Plymouth Argyle before two full campaigns at Stoke City, where 44 appearances last term earned him a nomination for the division's Young Player of the Year and took his tally past 100 Championship outings overall.
It's exactly the kind of proven, ready-made experience Boro want as they try again for promotion having lost last season's play-off final to Hull City, and signing Phillips would reunite him with Lankshear at the Riverside while extending a relationship between the two clubs that reportedly stretches to discussions over further loan moves for other fringe Spurs players.
Should it go through, Phillips would become Hellberg's seventh addition of the summer, with Tottenham expected to attach a sell-on clause to protect their interest if he goes on to fulfil his potential elsewhere.
The pattern is a familiar one for Middlesbrough this window: identify a talented young player stuck behind more senior options at a bigger club, and offer him the pathway to regular first-team football that will actually build his value.
It worked with Lankshear, whose goal returns for Oxford United on loan last season persuaded Boro to move decisively, and the club's recruitment staff clearly believe Phillips represents a similar opportunity — a defender with Championship pedigree already banked, arriving at a stage of his career where consistent minutes matter more than the prestige of a Premier League bench.