At one point in time, Clement Lenglet’s departure from Barcelona was seeming smooth, with Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur more than willing to put effort into his acquisition.
At this moment, however, there is a growing sense of belief that the Frenchman’s departure is going to take a considerable amount of time.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the operation of Lenglet’s departure has not seen any movement in recent days.
In fact, there are no firm offers on the table for the defender and Barcelona are looking to seek a solution in the next two weeks.
Lenglet’s high salary a massive problem
Lenglet has indeed travelled to the United States with the rest of his teammates but did not feature against Arsenal due to some discomfort.
In fact, he is not expected to play against Real Madrid either and those sitting in the offices are growing to believe that this will now become a long-term problem.
It has been reported that Barça do not intend to play the 28-year-old centre-half even if he recovers from the discomfort he is dealing with.
At this moment, the Catalans are awaiting firm offers and it is said that his high salary is posing a big problem.
As MD reports, the player is pocketing €16 million at Barça no other team is willing to match those figures.
In order to comply with the Financial Fair Play rule, many clubs have become cautious about their spending, making it challenging for the Catalans to receive lucrative offers for Lenglet.
What happened with Tottenham?
Soon after Lenglet completed his loan tenure with the Premier League side, the Lilywhites entered talks with Barça to accommodate the defender on a permanent move.
The Blaugrana were asking for a €15 million fee, but Tottenham were unwilling to meet that figure and are only offering a measly sum of €5 million.
But since the defender has a valid contract until 2026, Barcelona decided to stick to the asking fee.
Moreover, the team does not want to let him go on loan again as they do want to assume part of his salary.
As a result, talks became complicated and there has been no progress, leaving Barcelona stranded in their efforts to offload him.