Barcelona have issued a warning to Tottenham Hotspur with a number of other clubs looking to snatch Clement Lenglet from under the Premier League side’s noses.
In the space of only a few weeks, Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici – both of whom played a key role in bringing Lenglet to North London in the first place – have said their goodbyes to life at Tottenham.
But while this seemed to raise serious doubts about Lenglet’s future, Sport believe that the France international could still be a Tottenham player in 2023/24, the club pressing ahead with negotiations to turn his loan deal into a permanent transfer
Tottenham still in talks to sign Barcelona’s Clement Lenglet
Spurs do not have an option to buy clause in Lenglet’s contract. They are, however, hoping to seal a transfer in the region of £10 million.
What’s more, Lenglet is fully aware that he has no future at the Camp Nou. Barcelona are also closing in on another left-footed centre-half in Athletic Bilbao’s Inigo Martinez.
Champions League semi-finalists Inter Milan are presenting themselves as something of an alternative option for Lenglet, Sport add. Barcelona held a further round of talks with Spurs ‘in recent hours’, warning the now-managerless outfit that – if they do not come to an agreement with Lenglet sooner rather than later – there are other piranhas waiting to feast.
Inter Milan, it seems, may be just one of them.
‘A really good player’
27-year-old Lenglet has endured a bit of a hit-and-miss spell in the Premier League. He has featured regularly enough, however, his presence badly missed as Tottenham suffered a demoralising 3-2 defeat to relegation-threatened AFC Bournemouth on home soil last time out.
Two of Tottenham’s last three league defeats – against Bournemouth and fellow strugglers Leicester City – have come with Lenglet left out of the starting XI.
“Clement is a really good player,” Conte told The Standard in December. “Don’t forget that we are talking someone who played five years in Barcelona. When you play for many years in this type of club, with great history, great importance, it means that you are a good player.
“And when I spoke with him in the summer, I was very clear with him; ‘if you decide to play you have to come with us, you will play’. A really good player good personality, technically and good choices in the game.
“I can tell you that he was a big surprise for me in a positive way for his attitude, commitment, behaviour.
“He’s always 120 per cent during the training sessions.”
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