Tottenham transfer news: Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan keen on signing Tanguy Ndombele | Football | Sport
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Inter Milan have told Tottenham that they are interested in signing Tanguy Ndombele, but Express Sport understands the north London club will need to lower their £55million valuation in order to agree a deal.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is keen to recoup as much of the club-record £55m fee that they paid Lyon for the French international last summer as he can.
They saw off late competition from Manchester United to land Ndombele, who last week along with Paul Pogba tested positive for COVID-19, but he has fallen out of favour with Jose Mourinho.
Antonio Conte, who is staying on in Milan following talks after their Europa League final defeat to Sevilla, has made strengthening his midfield a priority after complaining about squad depth.
Inter have made no secret of their interest in Ndombele but believe that Spurs’ demands are too much in the wake of the coronavirus crisis that has hit football finances.
And Mourinho and Levy will have to reduce their demands in order for Conte to swoop in.
The sale of Ndombele would allow them to do more business with Portuguese coach Mourinho currently working on a shoe-string budget.
Speaking back in July, Mourinho had backed Ndombele to recover after his tricky start to life in north London much like ex-Spurs ace Luka Modric did at Real Madrid – though he is now willing to cut ties with the player.
“After six months he was elected the worst signing of Real Madrid’s history by the fans and the press,” Mourinho said of the Croatian when asked about Ndombele.
“A few months later he was champion, a few months after that European champion and a few years after that he was voted the best player in the world.
“When the talent is there, many things can happen with adaptation. If the talent is there, anything good can happen.
“Nothing happens when the player has no talent. When the player has no talent, nothing happens. You are born without potential, you die without potential. But when you have talent, lots of things can change and lots of things can happen.
“You go to United, you go to City, you go to Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich – there are lots of top players on the bench. That is normal.
“In Tottenham, what I feel is that every time a top player is on the bench it is a drama.
“The players have to understand it is not a drama and everybody has to understand that I hope next season we have even more top players on the bench.”
Tottenham are meanwhile set to clinch a £15m deal for Matt Doherty from Wolves, who will undergo a medical imminently after a fee was agreed between the two clubs.
Mourinho’s side paid the same amount to Southampton in exchange for midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and have snapped up Joe Hart as goalkeeping back-up on a free.
They have also been offered Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid with the La Liga club willing to sell him at a bargain price because his contract expires in 2021.
Former Spurs striker Darren Bent told talkSPORT of the possibility of signing Costa: “If he’s happy enough to play back up to Harry Kane, because that’s what he’ll do, then yeah get him because he’s superb.
“Diego Costa, if he wants out of Atletico Madrid, you have to think other teams are in for him.
“Harry Kane is superb playing as a one, when you’ve got [Heung-min] Son one side and Lucas Moura on the other side because he likes to pick up certain areas.
“When you play in a one you can drop deep if you want, you can run in behind, you can pretty much pick and choose where you want to run, so it doesn’t really affect you.
“But with a two it becomes difficult because if he goes in short you’ve got to run in behind and all of a sudden you’ve got to work together.
“To suddenly throw that on Harry Kane… I don’t even know if Diego Costa plays well in a two.
“So for me if he goes to Spurs, yeah fantastic back-up striker, but he’s never going to dislodge Harry Kane.”
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