Player Watch: Clément Lenglet

[spurmin]

How come everytime someone doesn't agree with a club target (and there's been plenty times where the scepticism turned out to be justified) people play the "idiot who play football manager/fifa" card?

Fans can have different opinions without being clueless of the game.

Not clueless about the game itself. But many form an opinion on someone they have only seen play a handful of times. Said player may have been shit in those games and mainly form opinions on other peoples opinions who may have only seen said player play a handful of times. And so the cycle continues.

 

[spursfan77]

Quite a relevant article on centrebacks on the Athletic today in terms of our centre back search and team’s search in the wider market. I haven’t posted it all, just the bit relevant to us.

De Ligt, Martinez, Botman and Ake: Is this the transfer window of the centre-back? - The Athletic

theathletic.com

On the one hand, the swirl of centre-back interest can be explained by a simple market dynamic of Club A needing to replace a player going to Club B. It’s merely circumstantial. On the other, the swell of players in the position moving this window is, to an extent, a consequence of a tactical trend. More and more elite clubs are playing with a back three. Chelsea won the Champions League with one in 2021. Eintracht Frankfurt and Roma became Europa League and Conference League champions deploying the same set-up in 2022. Bayern and Dortmund were often seen in the same three-man outfit last season and at his introductory press conference, Christophe Galtier, the new coach of PSG, said: “We’re thinking about playing a back three.”

It’s why the French champions have been in prolonged talks with Inter Milan about the acquisition of Milan Skriniar. The Slovakia captain has operated in a back three since moving to San Siro five years ago, first as a stop-gap on the left and then moving to the right once Alessandro Bastoni returned from his Serie A internship with Parma. The anticipated Skriniar-sized hole in Inter’s defence will have to be plugged with Fiorentina’s towering Serb Nikola Milenkovic, while the league’s defender of the year Gleison Bremer is expected to succeed the ageing Stefan de Vrij and swap Torino’s back three for a new one.

The defence Antonio Conte turned into Italy’s best is changing in personnel just as he is equipping Tottenham’s to align more closely with his own philosophy. After replacing Nuno Espirito Santo last November, Conte settled on a makeshift configuration with Ben Davies, Eric Dier and last summer’s big signing Cristian Romero. The season-long loan in the works with Barcelona for Clement Lenglet isn’t the sexiest option, but it is functional and that’s all that matters to Conte, who wants his wide centre-backs to step into midfield and participate in attacks.

By utilising a back three rather than an orthodox centre-back partnership, teams need more cover and need five defenders for those positions rather than four. Manchester United, for instance, have six and weren’t expected to be in the market for a centre-back this summer, especially after the signing of Raphael Varane last season. But here they are again rivalling Arsenal for Lisandro Martinez, the diminutive midfielder-turned-centre-back, as Erik ten Hag assembles a team with recruits schooled in the Ajax way. As with Lenglet at Tottenham, Martinez would redress the balance at United where the two-footed Varane is the only leftie at centre-back.

The demand for these players, as my former colleague Tom Worville analysed, is especially high, particularly with playing out from the back and build-up becoming ever more important to this generation of coaches. It’s a factor in the interest both Manchester clubs and Tottenham have shown in Villarreal’s Pau Torres and was incidental in the valuation of Sven Botman, who finally moved to Newcastle at the end of last month for €37 million plus add-ons. The consideration Chelsea are giving to bringing Nathan Ake back for another spell at the club owes something to Malang Sarr being the only leftie Tuchel can call on at centre-back.

Whether a new record fee will be set for a player in this position over the summer remains to be seen. United set a high bar by paying Leicester €87 million for a 26-year-old Harry Maguire, a price influenced by interest from City and what Liverpool had invested in Virgil van Dijk 18 months earlier.

Some believe the valuations reflect scarcity and the dwindling pool of top centre-backs. Premier League clubs can, for the most part, afford to overpay and make mistakes because the league’s model allows it. Rolling on the existing domestic TV deal and signing bigger and better international rights deals mean it is by far the wealthiest league in the world. It’s why Bayern signing Hernandez and Juventus paying what they did for De Ligt constitute outliers unless, that is, both clubs were counting on the stock in centre-backs continuing to rise with a view to then selling to PSG or an English club for a profit later down the road.

Other sporting directors look at it in terms of opportunity cost and won’t risk paying more than €30 million or €40 million for a centre-back for the simple reason the difference in player quality is marginal and if the big money centre-back gets injured or flops, the club loses a lot of money that it won’t make back.

It’s a fascinating sector of the market, particularly when you look at the hinges on which Premier League title races have swung in recent years. In 2019-20, you could argue it was Aymeric Laporte’s injury. In 2020-21, you could argue it was Van Dijk’s. Anecdotal it may be, but Chiellini couldn’t help himself at his unveiling with LAFC last week. “Attackers sell tickets,” he said. “But defenders win the league.”

So forget all the fanfare about strikers. The most influential signing this summer could be one involving a centre-back.

 

[ralphs bald spot]

Not clueless about the game itself. But many form an opinion on someone they have only seen play a handful of times. Said player may have been shit in those games and mainly form opinions on other peoples opinions who may have only seen said player play a handful of times. And so the cycle continues.

I think it was Shankly who said you find out more about a player seeing their bad games than watching their best

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

 

[kieranfitchett]

Needs more "Girl I wanna make you sweat" lines in that song, bit shit without it tbh

'Lenglet is the best we'll get...
until we can get Gvardiol... '

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Nice. I'd like to spend a night there. I'd bet I'd sleep really well - mainly because I'd be away from my snotty, moaning children....who obviously I love, but, you know...

 

[Aphex]

Apparently missing the tour anyway as can't get a visa in time lol

 

[Finchyid]

Apparently missing the tour anyway as can't get a visa in time lol

Thats not how I read Dans tweet..he may still be able to fly over

 

[Duskwen]

How long is the tour, a week?

 

[YB123]

How long is the tour, a week?

yep, game wednesday and saturday and then flying back straight after

 

[Gpnash84]

Nice. I'd like to spend a night there. I'd bet I'd sleep really well - mainly because I'd be away from my snotty, moaning children....who obviously I love, but, you know...

Imagine the cost of the mini bar and all you can eat buffet breakfast with Levy though.

 

[EastUpperDK82]

Sky Sports transfer centre.​

Lenglet undergoing Spurs medical​

Clement Lenglet is undergoing a medical with Tottenham this morning.
He stayed at the on-site hotel at their Hotspur Way training ground last night.
Spurs expect to complete the deal inside 24 hours and get him on the plane to South Korea for the beginning of their pre-season tour on Saturday.

 

[spursfan77]

Apparently missing the tour anyway as can't get a visa in time lol

I think it might have been Trix who touched on it last summer how deals for UK clubs for players from the EU will take longer because of the visa application process because of Brexit.

The Frenchman is set to join on loan from Barcelona, with Spurs having a buying option of around €10m, which seems a reasonable fee to pay for the 27-year-old.

Barca will be able to rid themselves of the defender’s wages, and edge closer, but obviously not close enough, to a salary bill which makes some kind of business sense.

However, Lenglet to Tottenham has hit several bumps in the road, which have delayed an announcement. One of those is likely to be the deferred wages he’s owed by Barcelona, after the squad took pay cuts during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and were due to be paid the amounts back over the remainder of their contracts.

Mundo Deportivo say getting a work permit is another issue.

Whereas once players from the EU wouldn’t have to go through such a process, things are now different. Mundo don’t think there’s much chance of Lenglet failing to get the required approval, but they say it’s the reason for a delay.

 

[Timberwolf]

Wonder if the deferred wages issue is why there may not be an option/obligation?

He might be saying "I'm not signing for another club while you pricks still owe me X million?!" or words to that effect.

 

[mark87]

Can't he fly over to Korea and just join in the training sessions and games pretending he's a fan who's won a competition?

 

[Stoof]

Nothing that a bit of cash won’t fix. Funny how work visas magically appear after palms are crossed.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Can't he fly over to Korea and just join in the training sessions and games pretending he's a fan who's won a competition?

We could use the masks from Mission Impossible. They exist, right? If not, a wig and fake nose and glasses disguise

You might well be onto something there

 

[bigpalacios]

Medical done

 

[Clark28]

almost here we go confirmed time

 

[mil1lion]

Can't he fly over to Korea and just join in the training sessions and games pretending he's a fan who's won a competition?

He does look like the French Rodney Trotter