Le Parisien: Loan agreement for Dele agreed to by PSG and Tottenham

There’s a few days left in the January transfer window, and while the transfer rumors regarding Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli are nothing new, they’ve heated up in the last couple of weeks.

According to French outlet Le Parisien, Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain have reached an agreement in principle with Spurs for the want away midfielder. The deal is a loan until the end of the season with no option to buy.

Les dirigeants des deux clubs ont trouvé un accord autour d’un prêt sans option d’achat jusqu’à la fin de la saison. Mais la venue de l’international anglais à Paris reste suspendue à l’arrivée chez les Spurs d’un autre milieu de terrain d’ici à lundi date de clôture du mercato.

While there’s an agreement, that excerpt tells the full story: Spurs are okay with Dele leaving, but they want a replacement before they’ll send the 24-year-old to the continent. That might prove to be difficult as Spurs are at their limit of foreign players. This almost certainly kills the rumors that Christian Eriksen might return on a similar deal, even though there’s still smoke on that front.

PSG have been courting Dele since the summer when it started becoming clear that José Mourinho didn’t have him in his Starting XI much, if at all. Favoring the likes of Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele and Moussa Sissoko in the 8 and 10 roles, Dele has logged just 472 minutes this season. He’s also been left out of the squad 14 times since the opening match loss to Everton.

Spurs supporters, including myself, have wondered what the issue is between Dele and Mourinho. While the history of the Portuguese manager feuding with players is well documented over his managerial career, it still leaves more questions than answers. Currently, Dele is injured (Transferitis, more than likely) and won’t feature today against Liverpool, but PSG are still pushing hard for the deal.

This isn’t going to go away and may come down to deadline day, especially with Tottenham wanting a replacement to add to the depth of the squad.