Tanguy Ndombele: Tottenham could recoup £54.8m if Spurs star ‘eats that league alive’ – pundit
Alex McLeish has insisted Olympique Lyonnais are unlikely to pay the purchase clause to sign Tanguy Ndombele permanently from Tottenham.
The former Scotland manager, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, claimed the 25-year-old would have to “eat Ligue 1 alive” to convince the French side into paying up.
As reported by the Athletic on Monday (31 January), Lyon have a £54.8million (€65million) optional clause to turn Ndombele’s loan permanent.
The France international joined Spurs from Lyon for a similar figure back in 2019.
McLeish insisted Tottenham needed to find a way to “balance the books” due to the financial impact of the pandemic.
However, he admitted Ndombele looks likely to return to Tottenham this summer despite the purchase clause.
“Listen, the Premier League has taken a pounding in the pandemic,” McLeish told Football Insider’s Russell Edge.
“They’ll have to balance the books in some way.
“I doubt they’ll get their £54million back, unless the guy goes and absolutely eats that league alive.
“It seems quite a lot of money that, for a French club to be able to pay £54million.”
Ndombele played 16 times for Spurs this season before heading out on loan.
However, only six of those appearances came as Premier League starts.
He featured just seven times under Antonio Conte, starting just three games across all competitions.
The French midfielder is still contracted to Spurs until the summer of 2025.
The seven-cap international has already played 96 times for Lyon, having joined the club on an initial loan back in 2017.
In other news, Tottenham could start working on signing Premier League star next week, claims insider.