Tottenham appeared to be close to signing Benjamin Mendy last summer, but they were unable to bring in the Marseille defender after failing to ship out Ben Davies, reports London Football News. It is understood that Benjamin Mendy was made as one of the transfer targets by Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine identified the 22-year-old defender as someone who could improve Spurs extremely well in the left back positions even though Danny Rose was a first team regular.
Spurs decided to make the move for the player but were left handicapped by the presence of Ben Davies in the squad. The Welsh international is not one of the first team regulars and Spurs decided to sell him in order to make room for Mendy. However, chairman Daniel Levy’s decision to place an insane transfer fee upon Davies proved to be a disastrous move, as the club are unable to find a buyer for him. This led to Spurs decided to pull out of the Mendy transfer, and the defender ended up joining none other than Monaco.
Tottenham were left to rue their mistake, as Mendy produced an impeccable performance in the 2-1 win for Monaco against the London outfit. Despite being a defence that had conceded very little goals even now, Tottenham struggled to deal with the driving runs of the 22-year-old. Benjamin Mendy ultimately proved to be the decisive factor in the game, as he produced an assist for the opening goal scored by Sidibé. This goal came at a time when both teams were struggling to break the deadlock despite Monaco having the better of the chances.
The second goal also came from the left-hand side with Lemar coming up with a fine finish.
The French club, though, were left extremely disappointed to find themselves back on level terms after Dele Alli was brought down in the penalty spot. Harry Kane stepped up to take the penalty and he slotted home for his fourth goal in three matches. Monaco, though, did not take long to strike back after they came to the other end and scored immediately after kick-off. Spurs never really recovered from the setback and Monaco were able to confirm their place in the Champions League knockout stages.
It is a major boost for French football, which has been increasingly dominated by Paris St Germain. Mendy will certainly have no regrets about having seen the move to Tottenham fall through.
Immediately after the exit from the Champions League, Mauricio Pochettino confirmed that the club needed to strengthen in several areas of the pitch. Spurs are expected to be quite active in the January transfer window.
