Tottenham managed to offload some deadwood during the summer transfer window.
Spurs were able to move on the likes of Bryan Gil to Girona permanently and Manor Solomon on loan to Villarreal – while Sergio Reguilon and Fraser Forster were released.
Tottenham also tried to sell Yves Bissouma – but Fenerbahce President Ali Koc has now revealed why a move to Turkey failed to materialise for the Mali international.
Injury at Hotspur Way scuppered Yves Bissouma to Fenerbahce
The 58-year-old has now revealed that he was “close” to bringing the £25m Tottenham man to Fenerbahce, but the deal collapsed after he suffered an injury in training at Hotspur Way.
Koc said: “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.”
Thomas Frank confirmed to reporters that the Malian suffered his current injury during a training session, revealing before the 3-0 win against Burnley: “Unfortunately he got injured in training yesterday, so very unfortunate. An injury we (will) look into how (bad) it is.”
TBR Football understand Tottenham were eager to sell Bissouma and a move to West Ham was discussed, but the 29-year-old ended up staying with Spurs.
Spurs now likely to miss out on a fee
Bissouma – who shone in the Europa League final – only has nine months remaining on his contract, and the summer transfer window just gone represented Tottenham’s last chance to receive a decent fee for the midfielder.
The Tottenham No.8 will now be able to strike a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club such as Fenerbahce in January, ahead of making a free transfer when his terms expire in July.
Either that, or Tottenham could receive a low bid from a club hoping to take Bissouma in January and avoid having to battle for his signature in the free agent market, like Inter Milan did when spending £16.9m to sign Christian Eriksen in January 2020.
A free transfer feels more likely – however – so the injury suffered by Bissouma could well mean Spurs have to accept a £25m loss on the June 2022 arrival from Brighton.