Tottenham may need to start identifying alternative midfield targets with their proposed signing of Georges-Kevin N’Koudou on the brink of falling through.
The Guardian report that while N’Koudou should have been able to sign once Clinton N’jie received his work visa to go the other way, Marseille are now reluctant to let their winger leave because of a dispute with the Lilywhites over his fee.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had initially agreed his club would pay most of the £11million fee up front, but he then tried to structure the payments in a way Marseille clearly weren’t happy with.
Many fans will no doubt leap to the conclusion that the N’Koudou saga has something to do with the departure of Paul Mitchell, the head of recruitment who walked out on Tottenham earlier this week, reportedly because of disagreements with Levy over the nature of the role.
Unsurprisingly, the club told the same source that Mitchell leaving had nothing to do with the collapse of the N’Koudou deal.
But Marseille themselves are in turmoil after their president resigned earlier this month. It may be that this is simply the wrong time for the two clubs to be negotiating, but Mauricio Pochettino will want a resolution sooner rather than later as he seeks to address Spurs’ lack of depth on the wings.
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