Ndombele signs on
Tottenham Hotspur have signed midfielder Tanguy Ndombele for what is described as a “club-record £65m” from Lyon.
The 22-year-old, first mooted as a Tottenham target last month, has penned a five-year deal, and according to Sky Sports, Spurs have the option to extend it by a further year.
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Ndombele had a medical at a north London hospital yesterday before completing the paperwork for his move at Tottenham’s training ground.
As Sky Sports explains, Lyon have made a “staggering” £58m profit on Ndombele, whom they bought from lowly French side Amiens for £7m just 12 months ago.
Although the official Spurs website didn’t go into the details of the move, talkSPORT reported that they will pay Lyon £55m, plus “a further £10m in add-ons”, a figure that breaks the club’s previous transfer record of £42m, paid to Ajax for Davinson Sanchez two years ago.
United thwarted
Metro says that Ndombele was also on Manchester United’s radar and the Red Devils “failed with a late push” to sign the France international.
Apparently Tottenham had to overcome “late interest” from United and it was the intervention of Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino that proved decisive with the Argentine “playing a key role in convincing the midfielder to reject a switch to Old Trafford”.
Clarke chuffed
Tottenham have also signed Jack Clarke from Leeds United for £8.5m, although the 18-year-old winger will return to the Championship club on a season-long loan.
Speaking to the Spurs website, Clarke said he was “delighted to sign for such a top club”, and then looked to the future: “I just want to carry on from where I left off at Leeds, kick on even more and then hopefully [following his loan] make an impact big enough to be in and around the team.”
Eriksen endgame
However, it’s not all joy in the Tottenham camp today. The Daily Mirror reports that the club face a “major dilemma” over midfield star Christian Eriksen.
Describing the player as “unsettled”, the Mirror says the club have been in lengthy talks with the Dane about his future in which he has “reiterated that his refusal to sign a new deal is not about money but he is desperate to win major trophies”.
That ambition, thinks Eriksen, would be best served by a move to Real Madrid, but the Spanish club have no intention of meeting Spurs’ £150m asking price.
Reports from Spain claim Real “believe they can get him for £65m because there is only one year left on his deal”.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy must therefore decide whether to hold out for the full asking price, accept Madrid’s offer or risk losing him for nothing on a free transfer next June.
More to come?
The Daily Mail says the deals for Ndombele and Clarke are only the start of Spurs’ spending spree with the club now eyeing Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon.
Real Betis midfielder Lo Celso has been scouted in recent months while Fulham’s Sessegnon, who comes with a £25m price tag, has been regularly linked with a move across London.
