A detailed report by The Athletic reveals how Clement Lenglet was not Tottenham’s first option, but their desire to complete their transfer business early became a key reason in their pursuit.
As of today’s latest reports, a loan deal between Spurs and Lenglet has been agreed and he will soon be announced as a Spurs player. Fabrizio Romano himself has given the deal his trademark ‘here we go’ seal of approval.
According to the report by The Athletic, amongst the list of left sided center backs Fabio Paratici had shortlisted for this summer, Lenglet was not even close to the top with the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Sven Botman, Pau Torres, Nico Schlotterbeck and Alessandro Bastoni all ahead of him.
Deal for Gvardiol didn’t go through because RB Leizpig were asking for a huge fee and even £50m wasn’t enough for them. Nico Schlotterbeck wanted to stay in Germany and signed for Dortmund instead. Spurs pushed the hardest for Inter Milan’s Bastoni with Conte already having worked with him but Inter were reluctant to sell him. This left Spurs struggling to find the player for the position they prioritised the most.
This got Paratici to change his stance and instead of waiting for later in the window, he decided to move down the list and bring in someone as a short-term fix. And although this seems much like a compromise from Spurs, it is a low-risk move getting someone of his experience who will provide a decent cover as well as competition to the likes of Davies.