Tottenham Transfer News: Janssen to Betis, Spurs to gazump Leicester for Tielemans? and more - 29th January, 2019

Could Spurs gazump Leicester and sign Tielemans?

Could Tottenham gazump Leicester for the signing of Youri Tielemans?

It came as a surprise of sorts yesterday when news leaked out that Leicester City were interested in signing Monaco’s young Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans on loan, with a view to a potential £20m permanent deal somewhere down the line. Well, today The Telegraph is reporting that Spurs could be in line to steal Tielemans from under the nose of the Foxes.

According to the report, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is happy to give the move the green light and is just waiting on Mauricio Pochettino to confirm his interest in the player. It’d be a fascinating move for Tottenham to make, particularly as the squad is now short on a midfielder after the departure of Tielemans’ fellow Belgian Mousa Dembele.

At just 21, Tielemans clearly has a lot of potential, flashes of which were shown during his appearances for Belgium at the 2018 World Cup. He hasn’t had the best time at Monaco since his £20m move there in May 2017, but his overall record has improved this season, as he’s scored 5 goals and picked up 1 assist in 20 league appearances.

This one is interesting; the cut-price nature of the deal and Tielemans’ age means he’d be a solid candidate for a Pochettino signing, but I’m not sure if this could be paper talk as the Argentine has showed willing to push youngsters Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp into the midfield role vacated by Dembele. We shall see.