Fenerbahçe were very close to signing Yves Bissouma from Tottenham Hotspur
We saw Tottenham Hotspur conduct some brilliant business in the recently concluded summer transfer window. The North Londoners had some high-profile incomings, but that all came while there was also this cleaning job done by John Lange at Hotspur Way.
If we look at names, Tottenham sold Bryan Gil on a permanent transfer to Girona while sending Manor Solomon to Villarreal on loan. All this whilst cutting ties with Sergio Reguilon and Fraser Forster. But one of the deadwood that remained at Hotspur Way was Yves Bissouma, whose planned exit didn’t come through in the eleventh hour.
Ali Koc speaks about how close Fenerbahçe came to signing Bissouma
And now Fenerbahçe president Ali Koc has given us an insight into how close the Turkish giants came to signing the Malian midfielder from Tottenham.
He said (as relayed by TBR Football):
“We all want a number eight. Bissouma was very close, but he got injured. A smart number eight.
Someone who can distribute the ball intelligently, play box to box. We are working on a young name.
At Fenerbahce, transfers don’t end until the last minute. Neither the arrivals nor the departures end. We will push the conditions until the very last moment.”
Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank also spoke about how Bissouma had a problem coming up in training ahead of the Lilywhites’ game against Burnley. And it was just bad timing for Fenerbahçe. They were scraping to bring someone who can act in that box-to-box #8 role. For Tottenham, it also played quite badly, given how the North Londoners wanted to cash in on the former Brighton midfielder before he entered into the final year of his contract at N17.
Now he has just around nine months left on his contract at Hotspur Way. This means that the chiefs at Hotspur Way will barely have an opportunity to recoup a part of the £25m that they paid to Brighton in 2022.
TTLB Opinion
A possible cut-price January sale is the most likely possibility. But that also depends on the player, given that he can leave on a free transfer in July and come into a pre-contract agreement abroad in the winter.
This is very much like how Christian Eriksen’s time at North London came to a halt in 2020, when Levy was forced into accepting £16.7m from Inter for the Dane to ensure that Tottenham didn’t lose him for free in the upcoming summer.
If we are talking about Bissouma, let’s be honest: he has never quite had his feet cemented at N17. Yes, we might have seen flashes of his ability every now and then, but he never was that imposing figure at the base of the midfield that Tottenham needed him to be. And now he is firmly behind Joao Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, and Archie Gray in the pecking order.
The Dane head coach’s rebuild in the second phase has already left the 29-year-old as surplus to requirements at Hotspur Way. But now the problem is that his presence will eat up reasonable wages for another season without contributing much on the pitch.