Write up in The Times re Bissouma
Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a deal worth in the region of £25 million with Brighton & Hove Albion for Yves Bissouma.
The 25-year-old midfielder is set to sign a five-year contract and is scheduled to undergo a medical on Thursday. Spurs revived their interest from January in Bissouma, who is entering the final 12 months of his contract with Brighton. The Mali international should become Tottenham’s third signing of the summer after the goalkeeper Fraser Forster and the wide player Ivan Perisic joined on free transfers.
It reflects Tottenham’s strategy of looking for the right deals despite the club’s owners announcing last month a £150 million injection to be put towards transfers this summer.
Tottenham are confident that personal terms will not be an issue and Bissouma should have a medical this week. He had a knee injury earlier this season and suffered an ankle problem last week but neither are expected to derail the deal. Liverpool and Arsenal considered signing him last summer and Aston Villa failed with a bid in January but dropped their interest recently.
Bissouma was arrested under suspicion of sexual assault in Brighton last October and was released under investigation before playing for Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations in January. He is still waiting to learn the outcome of the police investigation.
Bissouma signed for Brighton from Lille in 2018 for around £15 million. He has been highlighted for his energy and tackling which resulted in him collecting ten yellow cards this season. He is expected to partner Rodrigo Bentancur, who joined in January, in central midfield and is another indication that Harry Winks will be sold. Southampton are among the clubs following Winks if James Ward-Prowse leaves the club. Tottenham’s other midfield options are Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp, whose breakthrough season at the club ended early because of a pubis injury.
Born in Ivory Coast, Bissouma joined Jean-Marc Guillou’s academy in Mali at the age of 13. He made his first senior appearance for Lille in 2016 where he briefly played under Marcelo Bielsa and later helped the French club to survive in the top flight 2018.
Should Bissouma complete his move to Spurs, Antonio Conte wants at least four more signings, including two defenders, a creative midfielder and a forward. He would like them to arrive before the club’s tour to South Korea in the middle of July to give him the chance to work with them in pre-season. Tottenham are quietly confident of securing Christian Eriksen’s return as a free agent after the midfielder’s short-term deal at Brentford. They also have an interest in Richarlison, the Everton forward.
Conte wants to offload around eight players including Sergio Reguilón,
Emerson Royal, Steven Bergwijn, Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele. Ajax offered £17 million for Bergwijn, around £8 million less than demanded by Tottenham. Emerson has had interest from clubs in Spain. Villarreal have had talks to turn Lo Celso’s loan into a permanent deal. The Spanish club hope the deal will be worth £16 million, plus £5 million in add-ons, which is less than Tottenham want.
