Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea are both reportedly targeting Nice’s Ligue 1 right-back Youcef Atal.
As it stands, Tottenham Hotspur have a rather substantial advantage over bitter local rivals Chelsea in the race to sign Youcef Atal.
The Telegraph broke the news this week that Chelsea are looking to snap up the Nice right-back for £34.6 million this summer.
But it will not have escaped your attention that the Blues have a bit of a problem right now – they are locked under a FIFA-imposed transfer ban.
As a result, they will not be able to register Atal this summer unless they can successfully challenge FIFA’s ruling. So this has left the door wide open for Tottenham to swoop in for the highly-rated Algerian international.
The Telegraph claim that Spurs have suddenly jumped to the front of the queue by making the first move for Atal, who scored a hat-trick from right-back in Nice’s recent 3-0 thrashing of Guingamp.
Having failed to sign a single player since Lucas Moura moved to North London from PSG in January 2018, beating a genuine Premier League and London rival to one of Europe’s most exciting young full-backs would be a fine way to start the summer.
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