Ornstein: Traore to Spurs deal dead, player negotiating with Barcelona

The clearest and most likely transfer Tottenham Hotspur had in this January window now appears to be dead. According to The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Traore and his agent Jorge Mendes have pivoted to Barcelona, who are working on signing the Wolves winger on loan but with a larger purchase option than Spurs were offering.

It’s really hard to see this as anything but Jorge Mendes pulling a Jorge Mendes and pivoting towards what he thinks is a more favorable deal for his client (and likely himself). Barcelona clearly is a club with a large pull even after COVID has put them in a less than favorable financial position. Mendes is not only Traore’s agent, he’s also the agent of Wolves manager Bruno Lage and is tied to the Wolverhampton Wanderers organization in a myriad of ways, so there’s all kinds of ways he could have outsized influence in this kind of transfer.

I’m not sure why Barcelona are so interested in Traore all of a sudden, nor am I sure why they’d be offering a loan instead of just buying him outright when their issue is less with purchasing players than it is their overall salary. But there it is. Ornstein’s last sentence in that tweet — that Traore wasn’t keen on playing RWB — also suggests that Adama himself had some agency here.

This puts Spurs back to the drawing board with regards to bringing in a right back in this window. Look, it sucks to be gazumped, I get it. However, if you choose to take a positive (or at least a less outright mega-doomer) spin on the situation, we know that Fabio Paratici always has multiple irons in the fire. With a few days left in the window, who knows what new names and links will emerge? There’s still time.

Update: Fabrizio Romano has given his HERE WE GO.