Spurs prepping 11m bid for Ligue Un starlet

Unless you've been living under a rock the past two weeks, the discussions here at CFC have surrounded around the glaring hole that Tottenham Hotspur has at the defensive midfield spot. We've missed on some targets, mused on others, and have even talked about our own youngster Eric Dier moving to the DM spot he played a bit in Portugal. But we've all really agreed that a DM needs to be signed. This rumor may not get a lot of hopes up, depending on your view of what type of midfielder we should be targeting, but here it goes.

L'Equipe is reporting that Spurs are in for FC Nantes midfielder Jordan Veretout to the tune of €15m (£10.6m). Report is as follows:

Le milieu offensif de Nantes, Jordan Veretout (22 ans), sous contrat jusqu'en juin 2017, est ardemment courtisé par Tottenham et d'autres clubs de Premier League. Les Spurs seraient même prêts à offrir 15 millions d'euros pour s'attacher les services de l'international Espoirs, champion du monde des moins de 20 ans en 2013.

Une telle offre ferait très sérieusement réfléchir les dirigeants nantais, au départ très peu enclins à libérer leur joueur...

Basically, the report says that Veretout is under contract until 2017 and that the offer would be seriously considered, though it never actually says that the bid has been made, just the dreaded "preparing to offer" that we all love.

L'Equipe are a pretty good source when it comes to transfer rumors, so this isn't out of the blue, nor does it check all the #BatCountry boxes. In other words, there may be something to this and we should pay attention.

If you aren't familiar with Veretout, he's a 22-year-old jack of all trades midfielder. He is more of a box-to-box midfielder, but has played in attacking and defensive midfield roles for FC Nantes, who currently are in Ligue 1. He was also a key player in France's U-20 squad that won the FIFA U-20 World Cup back in 2013. Veretout was linked to Arsenal back in December but nothing ever came of the rumors for whatever reason. If you want to see for yourself how he plays, here's a little highlight video courtesy of Youtube channel World of Football HD:

We'll see how the rumors progress, but how he would fit in at Spurs is a bit of a mystery. There are also some who are perhaps soured a bit on French midfielders, given we just sold two who didn't work out for the club. Also, €15m seems to be a pretty high number as most sites have him valued at €8m to €10m, but it's all Silly Season fun trying to figure that out.