clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Reports: Tottenham and Barcelona to finalize Lenglet loan by Tuesday

The deal is close!

FC Barcelona v RC Celta de Vigo - La Liga Santander Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images

News news news! The latest comes as part of Tottenham Hotspur’s attempts to secure a left sided, left footed central defender, and it looks like it’s going to be Barcelona’s Clement Lenglet on a season-long loan. We’re still waiting for official confirmation, but according to Fabrizio Romano, it’s coming, and no later than Tuesday.

Apparently there are still some details to iron out, specifically regarding whether there will be an option to purchase or not. There’s been conflicting information on what that means, but it sounds as though the details are still being worked out, at least according to Matteo Moretto.

Lenglet-Tottenham. The Frenchman has permission to travel to London THIS weekend. Probably tomorrow. They still have to finish polishing the last details between the clubs, afor example if there will be a purchase option or not. Both parties understand that it will happen soon.

Previous reporting had suggested that Lenglet’s purchase option would be a staggeringly low £5m, which seems stupid even for a terribly run and financially insolvent club like Barcelona. More likely the £5 (or €5m? it’s unclear) is the loan fee, with the purchase option still being negotiated.

Spanish daily Sport is reporting that Lenglet was convinced to come to Spurs after a direct conversation with first team coach Antonio Conte, who said he’d be a big part of his plans next season. It was also implied that Tottenham would cover Lenglet’s wages, but only up to a certain point and that he’d likely need to take a pay cut. A quick google suggests that Lenglet makes about £100k/week post-tax wages at Barca; it’s unclear what he’d make at Spurs or what it means, but it’s unlikely to be out of their price range.

There’s a lot of Spurs fans down on this signing, but as I’ve mentioned before, Lenglet’s career path follows the trajectory of a player who trailed off at Barca, but who might be rejuvenated with a change of scenery under a top coach. It feels like a low risk, high reward kind of loan, one that saves Spurs a bunch of money in the short term and might allow them to break the piggy bank on someone REALLY fun.