Alasdair Gold claims on a Football London Q&A session that Tottenham Hotspur defender Clement Lenglet told him a permanent deal at Spurs all depends on how his loan move goes. Spurs do not have a permanent clause in the loan.
Lenglet, 27, has now clocked up four appearances for Tottenham. Coming off the bench on the opening day of the season, Ben Davies had kept the France international on the sidelines – until the 2-1 win over Fulham on September 3.
Lenglet then started against Marseille and Leicester on the weekend, but made way for Davies against Sporting. It is likely to be as rotational throughout the campaign. Whether that is enough for a permanent deal remains to be seen.
Of course, Lenglet was not at the top of the list in terms of options for Tottenham and Antonio Conte in the summer. The Italian wanted a reunion with Alessandro Bastoni, or Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol. But both proved to be too expensive.
Gold was asked what the chances were of signing Lenglet on a permanent basis. Despite, having no permanent clause in the loan. He said that he spoke to Lenglet about that in Korea. It depends how the season-long loan spell goes.
“I asked Lenglet out there about what comes next, as there’s no option. He said the coming months will decide what happens. He wants to be a big success in England. It’s down to Spurs and Barcelona to speak about the future.”
Gold says Lenglet deal depends how Tottenham loan goes
It is an intriguing one. From what we have seen so far, Lenglet is not much of an improvement on Davies if he is at all – but that is no disrespect. Davies is a top player. £97k-a-week Lenglet provides much needed competition, and rotation.
If the price is right and he continues to build on the solid start he has made, Spurs should look into his addition. But Conte will want his side to be ambitious, and improve on Davies. Signing a Bastoni, or a Gvardiol, does that.
