L’Equipe: N’Dombele move to Spurs to be completed ‘in the next 10 days’

Are you sick of the Tanguy Ndombele transfer saga? You shouldn’t be, because someone turned this rumor up to 11 and ripped the knob off yesterday.

Yesterday, Lyon announced the signing of Jean Lucas from Brazilian Serie A side Santos F.C. In a press conference shortly after, Lyon Chairman Jean-Michel Aulas openly talked about Tanguy Ndombele and that the player looked to be headed for the exit. The next few hours, reports dropped in from every corner of the internet saying that a deal was either close or done from some decent sources. This morning, L’Equipe (via Get French Football News) jumped into the fray with a concrete report:

Lyon and Tottenham as of this evening have not agreed a deal… yet. The contours over which they are negotiating are an €80m package, which includes €15m in bonuses.

The player is ready to make the move to Spurs – after his time with the French national team earlier this month, Ndombele travelled to London to visit Tottenham’s facilities. The ex-Amiens midfielder wanted to concretely see what Spurs could offer him. The 22-year-old left his trip in London completely convinced that Tottenham was a club he could join

That’s a lot of dough, but it falls in line with the belief that Aulas wanted €65m at minimum for the primary transfer fee. The real surprise here is that Ndombele has already been to London and visited Tottenham Hotspur directly.

Excited yet? It gets better.

But the biggest factor in that trip was his discussions with manager Mauricio Pochettino – the Argentinian tactician was able to convince Ndombele of the club’s future project and that it was adequately ambitious: to build a team that can win the Premier League next season.

The player, who appreciates the style of the Premier League, is convinced that this step will further his progression and still give him an adequate shot at making France’s EURO 2020 squad.

That’s about as glowing of a review as you’re going to get. Ndombele, who is 22-years-old and ready to become a regular choice in France’s international squad, is apparently convinced this is the best move to make now. Having the French captain in north London probably helps his cause as well and one has to believe that Hugo Lloris has been in his ear about joining a club that was just in the Champions League final.

Contractual discussions between Ndombele and Spurs are not concluded yet either, but a very long term deal is in the offing. An English source has told Delom that an agreement between the player and club is 80% done.

Pretty standard stuff here. This also means that permission has been given, to some extent, by Lyon to negotiate with Ndombele. If the deal is that close to being done, it’s basically down to bonuses and finalizing that wage.

As for fee discussions, they are ongoing: Aulas will not accept anything below €65m guaranteed, and wants an additional €15m in bonuses. Daniel Levy knows that his maneuverability for negotiation is limited, but is still trying to bring the price down to between €70m and €75m.

A source at Lyon told Delom tonight that an agreement over fee would likely be concluded “in the next 10 days”.

This adds on to the first part of the article. Aulas had a fee in mind and probably thought he could get €80m before bonuses going into the window, but when Tottenham appeared as the only bidder, that number had to come down a bit. He has some leverage with contract length, but with Ndombele basically saying it’s time to move on, that amount of leverage deteriorated rapidly.

Then there’s that final line: the timeline. Aulas, in his press conference, stated he didn’t have to get the transfer on the books by 30 June because of the Ferland Mendy transfer, and he’s probably not lying there. That transfer alone should solidify their FFP status and keep them in the safe zone. Given that they’ll be negotiating with LOSC Lille for Thiago Mendes as a replacement, the 10 day timeline is probably correct.

If you’re wondering how solid this source is, it’s coming from L’Equipe and Hugo Delom, who is basically the man when it comes to transfers in France. It’s as close to a Tier 1 source as you’re going to get in the world of football.

If we weren’t all in “NOBODY MOVE” mode already, I’d be screaming it from the mountaintops. I don’t have to now, because this is the biggest piece of news to drop for Spurs this transfer window yet. If the deal gets over the finish line, this is the kind of move Levy had to make to show his commitment to backing Pochettino. It will satisfy all parties involved and Spurs instantly become a stronger side.