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Tottenham have suffered a setback after completing the loan deal of Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet on Friday. Spurs secured a deal for the Frenchman to join for the coming season, but he reportedly will not be flying out with the rest of the squad for their South Korea tour.
London Evening Standard claim that despite Lenglet’s season-long loan being finalised, he is not expected to get a Visa in time to join Antonio Conte’s side on their flight to Korea today. There is no option to purchase the 27-year-old during the loan, who is expected to compete with Ben Davies on the left-hand side of the Italian boss’ favoured three-at-the-back system.
Spurs announced their new defender on Friday evening, subject to international clearance and a work permit, who was delighted to temporarily end his disappointing Barcelona career since joining the Spanish side from Sevilla in 2018. “I’m very happy to be here, to be in this city, at this club,” Lenglet said. “I speak with friends, with my family, to take my decision and all the words were very, very good speaking about the club.
“I’m very excited to start the season with my new team-mates, new stadium, new city. For me, all is new, but I’m hungry, I want to play, I want to be the best soccer player to help the team to win trophies and to fight in all the competitions.
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“First of all, I want to be a good team-mate, to be a defender who can be strong, aggressive and help the group to win the ball. It’s very important first of all to be a good defender, after that, a good player and to help the team.”
The Frenchman is also excited to work under Conte, who transformed Spurs since taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo in November, and led the side to Champions League football after they pipped rivals Arsenal to fourth place at the end of the season.
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“I would like to play a lot of games, to win, because if you play and you don’t win, you are not happy. I want to win a lot of games to be happy, to fight at the height of the classification. It’s a dream, I would like to win a trophy here in Tottenham.”
Lenglet becomes Conte’s fifth signing of the summer, following Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic and Fraser Forster into the club.
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