Tottenham Hotspur is set to get their summer transfer window party started, and to do so in style by breaking the club transfer fee record. According to Sky Sports, the north London side has reached an agreement with Lyon for the acquisition of midfielder Tanguy Ndombele; for the eye-popping sum of £65 million.
This shatters the previous record of £36m, set by Davinson Sanchez. It’s also well ahead of the £31.5m record for a Spurs midfielder, which belongs to Moussa Sissoko.
According to Sky, Ndombele “will sign a five-year deal and is due to undergo a medical in the next few days.”
The 22-year-old France international has been on White Hart Lane’s radar for awhile, as he was heavily linked to the team last summer. Of course, last summer saw Spurs sign as many new players as you or I did, with the conventional wisdom claiming the club needed to save money due to an expensive new stadium build.
However, the construction project is long complete now, meaning the Champions League runner-up can now focus on strengthening the roster.
Expect more deals beyond just Ndombele this summer transfer window, as the club looks to finally give Manager Mauricio Pochettino the support that’s long overdue.
It was already thought that midfielder/winger Christian Eriksen is out the door this summer, but with this move now made, the Danish playmaker is almost certainly headed for the exit, with Manchester United and Juventus potential destinations, as his dream move to Real Madrid isn’t going to happen.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.