According to journalist Dean Jones, Tottenham Hotspur should not sign Clement Lenglet permanently and should instead ‘start fresh’ when a new manager comes in.
Lenglet was signed by Antonio Conte last summer to bolster Tottenham’s defensive options.
The Frenchman arrived on a season-long loan from Barcelona, with no purchase clauses involved in the original deal.
The 27-year-old has made 28 appearances for Spurs this season across all competitions, scoring one goal and registering two assists (Transfermarkt).
Despite his pedigree as a top defender in Europe, things haven’t quite gone to plan for Lenglet in England thus far.
When Conte was still at the club, it was thought he was not impressed with Lenglet and was looking elsewhere for left-sided centre-back options in the summer (Football Insider).
However, with Conte now gone, it has been reported that Spurs were indeed working on a deal to sign Lenglet on a permanent basis, as the club have been happy with the player on a ‘personal and professional level (Sport).
According to a report from CalcioMercato, Lenglet himself is keen to continue his career in England, too. However, Jones thinks Spurs should let Lenglet return to Barcelona at the end of the season now.
He told GiveMeSport: “I think that if Conte is not the manager, it might be even more reason that Lenglet actually isn’t signed permanently because if you’re going to start fresh, you might as well start fresh and not keep on loan players who have been part of this disaster.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Clement Lenglet hasn’t been too bad for us this season, we can do far better and I would rather we put the money we would spend on him towards signing a higher-quality solution to the left-sided centre-back problem.
As Jones said, we need a fresh start and there’s no point clinging on to players like Lenglet.
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