Clement Lenglet joined Tottenham Hotspur on a season-long loan from Barcelona last summer and has gone on to make 27 appearances in all competitions this campaign, but Javier Miguel of Diario AS says Spurs aren’t likely to make his move permanent.
Lenglet has been a regular under Antonio Conte in recent weeks, starting their last four Premier League games, but he’s been on the wrong end of defeats and doesn’t always play even when fit. if Lenglet leaves, Conte will still have Cristian Romero, Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez and Japhet Tanganga at his disposal.
The 27-year-old has started in 16 of Spurs’ 28 Premier League games (57%), amassing 1377 minutes of football from 2520 (54.6%). Lenglet has been on the winning team nine times while losing seven. It’s worth noting that Spurs have a 56% win ratio with Lenglet and a 60% win ratio without him. They have lost 38% of league games with the French international and 20% without him too.
Lenglet is third among Spurs’ centre-backs for tackles per game (1.4), fifth for interceptions per game (0.7) and fifth for clearances per game (1.9). He’s also the second-most dribbled past centre-back in the squad, so that may be why Tottenham aren’t planning on signing him permanently.
The Lilywhites may need to sign another defender in Lenglet’s stead, however, as their backline has been porous in 2022/23. Tottenham have conceded more goals than 13 Premier League clubs (40 goals in 28 games), so the Frenchman can’t be blamed for everything.
Lenglet is expected to return to Barcelona when the season comes to a close, but he doesn’t appear to have a future at the Camp Nou either. Barca were open to selling him for €25m (£22.1m) in the summer of 2021 and it doesn’t appear they’ve changed their mind on the 27-year-old, so he might be at a third club in little over a year.
The Catalans didn’t have Lenglet as a regular last season and they’ve since signed Andreas Christiansen from Chelsea and Jules Koundé from Sevilla to join Ronald Araújo and Eric Garcia in the backline, so the writing is on the wall.
Gerard Pique surprisingly retired midway through the campaign, but Barca are 12 points clear atop of La Liga, so they don’t miss him or Lenglet.
