Report: Villarreal in negotiations for both Gio Lo Celso AND Tanguy Ndombele

The biggest question concerning Tottenham Hotspur’s outgoing business revolves around Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele. Both players have been declared as not in Antonio Conte’s plans, and both are on long-term contracts at Spurs, which makes them difficult to shift.

Gio, however, is coming off of a very successful loan at Villarreal where he helped take them to the Champions League semifinals. It’s been pretty clearly established that the Yellow Submarine would like to bring Gio back again this season, but Villarreal also doesn’t have a whole lot of money and negotiations have been difficult.

But — check this out. Fabrizio Romano posted an update this morning on this situation that not only provided some optimism on the Lo Celso situation, but also threw in a possible deal for Ndombele as well!

Loans are pretty much a given for both players at this point. The fee that would be required for a permanent transfer for either of them probably makes it a non-starter for a club like Villarreal that just doesn’t have the financial liquidity right now. That said, a loan with a purchase option makes total sense, assuming an agreement on the option can be hammered out that makes everyone happy.

Spurs fans might grumble about a loan OPTION as opposed to an OBLIGATION, but it’s possible that this is being negotiated as an accounting trick. I think of the loan to buy deal for Dejan Kulusevski — Tottenham technically have an option to purchase, but the terms required to make the option a permanent deal are so easily achievable that there’s no question that Spurs are going to pull the trigger. In the meantime, however, they’re financially best suited by fulfilling Deki’s two season loan and triggering the option next summer.

The Ndombele thing is a surprise, and I’m a little more skeptical of this move considering the underwhelming loan Tanguy had at Lyon last season. There’s not a lot of detail on this one, so I’m going to remain skeptical until we get a little more info. But if Spurs can pull off a loan for both of them, that’s a pretty good piece of business, even if in the end they don’t receive a substantial transfer fee for either.