Damien Comolli is confident £18m reported Tottenham target won’t leave this summer

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Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a transfer blow by a familiar face, with Damien Comolli claiming that Ibrahim Sangare is still very much a Toulouse player, while speaking to Les Violets.

When a recently-relegated Toulouse side unveiled Comolli as their new chairman in July, they sent out a statement that would have sent ripples through the French second tier.

Clearly, Les Violets are determined to make their stay in Ligue 2 a short one with the arrival of a former Tottenham and Liverpool director representing a major statement of intent.

And Comolli’s first order of business is to try and stop one of his old employers raiding Patrice Garande’s squad for a 22-year-old Ivory Coast international.

“Ibrahim is not about to leave. In any case, I have not received an offer. We have no financial pressure and therefore no obligation to sell our players,” Comolli said in typically bullish fashion.

“I hope he stays. Although he does not express himself much, he is a leader. He is a role model for young players.”

Get France Football News reported earlier in August that Tottenham had identified the £18 million-rated Sangare as the ideal addition to Jose Mourinho’s midfield.

It is no secret that the Spurs boss wanted to inject some steel and energy into the heart of his engine room and a partnership of Sangare and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg would have possessed grit and guile aplenty.

While Comolli is confident of keeping his prized asset, Toulouse’s recruitment chief did not strike a particularly positive tone when discussing Sangare’s future himself last week.

“We are building a team. A little at all posts. There are players who are still under contract but who risk leaving us, like Sangare – so we are working on their replacement,” Jerome Fougeron told FootMercato.