In an interview recently, Barcelona president Joan Laporta expressed optimism that the club would reach an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur for the transfer of out-of-favour defender Clement Lenglet.
“I think we’ll reach an agreement with Tottenham for Lenglet,” he said.
Now, building on that, SPORT is reporting that Lenglet’s transfer to Tottenham from Barcelona is in the final stretch, with the two clubs separated in the price point of the defender by a figure of €5 million.
Lenglet spent the last season away on loan at Tottenham and had a decent enough campaign. There have been talks of a permanent move for a while now and negotiations are understood to be underway between the two teams.
Barça have been asking for a fee of €15 million for Lenglet, but Tottenham have been reluctant to meet that valuation as they have had to make serious efforts to come close to meeting the defender’s current wages.
Lenglet would earn around €16 million per year if he were to continue at Barcelona next season. Given the club’s current financial situation, they are eager to get rid of the Frenchman and with Spurs coming to close to matching his wages, they do not intend to spend big on his transfer fee as well.
As such, the report states that the Londoners are willing to offer around €10 million for Lenglet. Barcelona could give in and accept that offer by including a few add-ons and variables.
As far as Lenglet is concerned, he is keen on the move to Tottenham but would seek some compensation from Barça as he stands to lose some money if the move to London is completed.
Given the Catalans’ need to sell, they are accepted to reach an agreement with both Tottenham and Lenglet soon and sanction his sale to further lighten the salary mass after having let Samuel Umtiti go by terminating his contract.