Ainsley Maitland-Niles would be quite a good fit to fix Tottenham’s defensive depth issues – if the club can get past his Arsenal past.That is the opinion of European football expert Andy Brassell, who named the ex-England international as one of two potential Lyon players Spurs could target at right-back.Ex-Arsenal academy graduate Maitland-Niles joined Lyon permanently in 2023GettyRoberto De Zerbi still has key areas of his squad to address despite spending over £300million on new players this summer.Tottenham have reunited Omar Marmoush with his former Manchester City teammate Savinho.The latter, as well as Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke, have been signed for huge fees, with the trio of Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka arriving on free transfers.talkSPORT also understands they are pushing to sign Liverpool winger Cody Gakpo – but much of that pursuit may depend on the Reds’ finalising a move for Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola.In terms of outgoings, Djed Spence has completed a £30m switch to Inter Milan, but there have been precious little movement in terms of sourcing a like-for-like replacement.Pedro Porro is the undoubted number one choice for the spot, but the defender hasn’t had a pre-season due to his World Cup-winning exploits with Spain.The 26-year-old played his first minutes for the club since the end of last season off the bench in the 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Charlton.Meanwhile, De Zerbi has been forced to deploy Archie Gray out of position on the right side of defence for his first two matches.The Harry Kane problemBrassell told talkSPORT.com: “The problem is, and Spurs have been here before with Harry Kane, there are certain players it’s really, really hard to back up.Porro has returned to Spurs after playing nearly 4,000 minutes for the club last seasonGetty“You’re talking about someone who would be backing up Pedro Porro, essentially, aren’t you?“Pedro Porro is not only the right-back for the world champions, but he’s going through a brilliant time at the moment. “He’s been fantastic. He’s relentlessly available.“So, really, I think you’re looking at someone who can play right-back and centre-back, really, or right-back and a different position. “I think there are two players that spring to mind because it’s not going to be an enormous name; Who is going to Spurs to back up Pedro Porro? Like, no elite player is going there to do that.“And it is the Harry Kane scenario. How do you back up a guy who never rests, never wants to rest, 98 per cent of the time does not need to rest? I think that’s quite a difficult sell, really.”Tottenham found it hard to find a striker of quality who was fine to back up KaneGettyDuring Kane’s rise to become Tottenham’s record scorer, the club balanced a myriad of academy strikers with transfer misfires as their second choice option to the England captain.Vincent Janssen managed six goals in 42 games, while Fernando Llorente made just seven Premier League starts in north London.And Carlos Vinicius only managed to hit double figures for goals courtesy of an FA Cup treble against Marine.Maitland-Niles transfer to Spurs?“So, you’re looking for a player of a particular profile,” Brassell said. “It’s very similar to the Achraf Hakimi situation at PSG, where Luis Enrique’s stance on it is that we can’t get anyone who’s as good as him. We can’t get anyone who can genuinely replace him. “So, if he’s out, if he’s ever out, we’ll just replace him with a midfielder, Warren Zaïre-Emery.Gray captained Spurs in their Premier League opener from right-backGetty“So, Tottenham are going to have to think around this a little bit. I wonder, now this is slightly sacrilegious maybe, but I wonder if Ainsley Maitland-Niles would be quite a good fit, despite the Arsenal past.“He has not had a relentlessly brilliant time at Lyon. At the beginning, under Laurent Blanc and Fabio Grosso, he couldn’t really get a game.“[He] developed really well under Pierre Sage, which is why you’ve got the Crystal Palace interest in him. “He is someone who Sage really appreciates. He has only got a year left on his contract, but we know he is someone who can play in midfield as well. He is a full-back who, as you say, is different to Porro.“He sort of makes runs into midfield from the right-back position. “I still think defensively he’s a little bit fallible at times, but I think he’d be a really interesting player for that position. Five-cap England international Maitland-Niles has found his position at right-back at LyonAFP“One of his teammates, actually, if you’re looking for someone who’s more defensively sound, is Clinton Mata, who recently signed a new contract at Lyon. But Lyon is Lyon; everyone is sellable, basically.“I think he’s someone who speaks excellent English, a great leader in the dressing room. All his teammates love him. “Experienced at Champions League level as well with Club Brugge.“Someone who is athletic enough to play right-back and arrived at Lyon as a right-back but can play centre-back very easily as well.“Just a really smart defender. So, for two different profiles, two different teammates.”