Tottenham Hotspur want Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele just hours after his World Cup final display was branded as ‘shocking’.
That’s according to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, who claim that Dembele’s release clause drops in 2023.
It’s stated that Dembele’s contract has a €100million (£87million) release clause, but that figure drops to €50million (£43.5million) in June and July of next year.
That figure makes Dembele seemingly appealing to European clubs and Tottenham are mentioned as being interested.
Chelsea, Wolves and Paris Saint-Germain are also claimed to be keen, which seems like a very strange mix of clubs.
Still, Barcelona allegedly aren’t worried and have no plans to sell Dembele during the January transfer window.
Dembele, 25, has bagged four goals and five assists in 14 La Liga games for Barcelona this season after signing a new contract over the summer.
Tottenham-linked Dembele suffered World Cup nightmare
Dembele has been playing a key role for France at the World Cup but Sunday’s final went terribly for him.
Dembele made no impact going forward and was all over the place defensively, conceding the penalty to put Argentina 1-0 up.
Didier Deschamps saw enough very quickly, substituting Dembele before half time in a rather humiliating decision for the winger.
Dembele has been slammed for his performance in that game with former England international Stuart Pearce calling him ‘shocking’ on talkSPORT.
It’s hard to imagine any manager or scout being impressed with that performance and it’s a surprise to see Tottenham linked.
Tottenham already have a star right winger in Dejan Kulusevski and whilst Spurs may want competition, Dembele wouldn’t be signed for that role.
Few Tottenham fans would really want to trade Kulusevski for Dembele right now and we can’t see Antonio Conte being a particularly big fan.
Dembele’s release clause halving may be appealing but we can’t see Tottenham moving for him in 2023.
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