[ad_pod ]

Tottenham Hotspur “definitely want” Tanguy Ndombele but they could be priced out of a move for the Lyon midfielder, per Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas via the Last Word on Spurs podcast.

What’s he said?

Ndombele has emerged as an elite central midfielder during his time at the Ligue 1 outfit.

The France international has made a total of 96 appearances for the club and has been touted as a £70m player by reports in the English media.

Thomas, who primarily covers Spurs, has confirmed that the club are interested but that they risk seeing his asking price rise beyond their means.

He said: "They definitely want him. The interest has been there for a while, I think it was 18 months ago or more that I put out a story saying they were tracking him and they've been doing that ever since.

“The problem for Spurs is how much he's going to cost. He's obviously going to fetch a very, very high price because he's gone from an emerging talent to someone who's performed at a really high standard for Lyon over two seasons now."

Spurs are not close to securing a deal for the midfielder, however, and Thomas believes that Manchester City could have a major say over the player’s future.

He added: "While that City interest is there, that's obviously going to be attractive to the player. He's one of City's three targets for that position.

“The Atletico Madrid one, Rodri, is their top target and Marcos Llorente is the other one, at Real Madrid. I think that will have a bearing on what happens with Ndombele.”

Flex their muscles

If Spurs can secure Ndombele’s signature, this would be a coup of epic proportions.

The club have not managed to bring in a player of such magnitude since the signing of Rafael van der Vaart from Real Madrid nearly a decade ago and that deal only happened because nobody else was interested.

Beating the likes of City to the 22-year-old would prove that Spurs belong at the top table of European football, with the players to boot.

Spurs have been looking for a replacement to Mousa Dembele since his departure in January but Ndombele is more than just an excellent midfield player.

He could be a beacon of hope and the player that takes the club through the glass ceiling that they have been butting against for so long.

Regardless of the price, this is the deal that Spurs desperately need to do.