Report: Tottenham now in advanced talks to sign a defender Antonio Conte said is 'really good'
Clement Lenglet joining Spurs on loan may have been a product of Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte’s partnership at the club, but he may still end up signing for the club permanently this summer.
Indeed, according to Sport, Spurs are in advanced talks with Barcelona over a permanent €14m (£12m) move for the defender.
This may come as a surprise to a few. After all, Lenglet hasn’t been brilliant for Tottenham this season and the club have been linked with a plethora of new left-footed centre-backs such as Piero Hincapie and Alessandro Bastoni.
It’s even more surprising to hear that Spurs are working on transfers during such a tumultuous period for the club.
Indeed, Spurs currently don’t have a manager in place, while their Sporting Director’s position is also under question after his ban was upheld on Wednesday.
Of course, Daniel Levy’s position at Spurs remains unaffected, and it’s fair to assume that he must be the one driving this move for Lenglet.
Lenglet isn’t a bad player by any stretch of the imagination. Antonio Conte actually described him as ‘really good’ earlier this season, while you don’t get signed by Barcelona unless you have something about you.
Perhaps under a new manager Lenglet can rediscover the form that saw him become a key player for Barcelona in the past.
In fact, one of Tottenham’s manager targets would probably be very keen to use Lenglet – Luis Enrique.
Indeed, while Enrique and Lenglet didn’t quite overlap at Barcelona, they’re both products of that club’s long-established style of play, and one has to imagine that it wouldn’t be too difficult for Lenglet to adapt to the Spaniard’s tactics if he were to come in for the north London.
It sounds as though the loanee could be extending his stay at Tottenham beyond this season.
