Tottenham are on the verge of shattering their transfer record for the Lyon midfielder, Tanguy Ndombele, after agreeing a fee for him of €62m (£55.45m) plus €10m in add-ons.
Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs manager, has made Ndombele his No 1 summer target, as he looks toreinvigorate his squad after two transfer windows without a signing. He has urged Daniel Levy, the chairman, to do everything possible to get Ndombele and it appears that the final obstacle to the blockbuster deal has now been cleared.
Ndombele must still agree personal terms on a long-term contract but that ought not to be a problem, given that the will is there from his side to complete the move. The 22-year-old France international has been given a tour of the Spurs training ground, which left him greatly impressed, and he has been convinced by Pochettino that the next phase of his career will be best served in north London.
Jean-Michel Aulas, the Lyon chairman, has maintained that Ndombele is worth €75m and, if the deal now proceeds as expected, he will have virtually got his price. What Spurs will get is a player to quicken the pulse; a central midfielder to replace Mousa Dembélé and who mixes skill and electric dribbling with raw power.
According to reports in France, Manchester United could make a late attempt to hijack the deal but Spurs are firmly in the driving seat. Their negotiations with Lyon have been going on for several weeks and the latest phase of them concerned the add-ons. Spurs’ current transfer record is the £42m they paid to take the central defender Davinson Sánchez from Ajax in the summer of 2017.
