Transfer News: Tottenham Hotspur target Franck Kessie has reached a verbal agreement to join Barcelona
According to Sportitalia’s Gianluigi Longari (h/t the Sun), AC Milan star Franck Kessie could be moving to Barcelona in the summer despite strong interest from Tottenham Hotspur.
AC Milan star Franck Kessie has developed into one of the best central midfielders in Serie A. The Ivorian has enjoyed an emphatic spell in this campaign, scoring five goals and assisting once in 21 appearances across all competitions.
However, more than the goals and assists, his defensive acumen off the ball, and reliability on it has caught the eye of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Spurs and Barca.
Kessie has a contract with AC Milan until the end of this season and it seems like he is headed for an exit in the summer, given that the Ivorian star is in search of a better paycheck after his demand of £6m-a-year plus bonuses wasn’t entertained by the Rossoneri board.
Blow for Spurs
Kessie is currently open to talking with foreign clubs as he has entered the final six months of his contract. Tottenham tried to take advantage of this situation and were negotiating a fee in the region of £11million.
However, now it is believed that the 25-year-old star has agreed on personal terms with Catalan giants Barcelona. If the news is accurate, Kessie would move to Camp Nou as a free agent after ending his current contract in the summer.
Antonio Conte has preferred Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg and Oliver Skipp to start in midfield. The combination has indeed shown promising results in the last two months. However, he is currently lacking quality backup options, and it could create significant problems in the long term.
In addition, Tanguy Ndombélé, Giovani Lo Celso and Dele Alli have been linked with an exit after they are apparently out of Conte’s plans at Spurs. This bit of news raises concerns for two reasons. Firstly, we could see up to three midfielders depart, which would certainly require us to replace at least some of them.
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And secondly, if they stay, Conte doesn’t trust them to be at our level. If he did, they would have been in his plans going forward. We need to make sure Conte doesn’t have to compromise with the quality of players at his disposal.
A serial winner in Italy and England, Conte is here to win us trophies, and our board must do everything they can to help in that regard. A solid midfielder like Kessie would have certainly been a useful addition to our team, and our fans would largely be hoping that there is still enough room for Spurs to drop in and make themselves heard in any potential deal for the African star.
