Tottenham in talks over £12m permanent deal for Barcelona man

Tottenham are reportedly in advanced talks over making their loan move for Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet permanent for a fee of £12m, in the latest bizarre twist in north London this week.

Spurs parted ways with Antonio Conte on Sunday night, before Director of Football Fabio Paratici had his ban from football activity extended from just Italy to Worldwide, meaning that he is set to be sidelined for 30 months for his part in the Juventus scandal.

The Italian has appealed the decision, and the result of that appeal will be decided on April 19th.

According to reports in Spain, however, that has not stopped their transfer activity, and they are already planning for the summer despite having no manager or director of football.

And Clement Lenglet, signed on loan for the season, is likely to become a permanent deal this summer.

The French defender has made 18 Premier League appearances this season, and Tottenham ‘are understood to be keen on signing the 27-year-old permanently as long as the conditions suit them’, with talks going on over a 14m euro deal.

Having been linked to the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Alessandro Bastoni and Milan Skriniar just 12 months ago, the deal will be somewhat underwhelming for Spurs fans, with Lenglet having failed to show himself as anything other than solid this season.

The sale would certainly help Barcelona, with the club in financial disarray once more despite their many levers economic activated last summer.

La Liga President Javier Tebas has already revealed the extent of the issue.

‘In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop spending on wages and transfers from £532m to £399m (€650m to €450m), so it’s a budget of minus £177m (€200m)’, he explained in February.

As a result, Barcelona are desperate to do plenty of selling before the window officially opens, to give them more flexibility in the transfer market this summer.

The Blaugrana are also confident of shifting fellow French centre-back Samuel Umtiti this summer after a productive loan spell at Lecce this season.

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