Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly been rebuffed in their pursuit of Franck Kessie, who has rejected advances from the North Londoners.

According to Calciomercato, Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a major blow in their pursuit of Franck Kessie. The AC Milan midfield powerhouse has lately emerged as the top target for Antonio Conte, who is keen on adding reinforcements in the midfield department in January. It prompted managerial director Fabio Paratici to accelerate the club’s pursuit of Kessie.

In recent days, Tottenham had even reached an agreement with AC Milan over a January move for the Ivorian. However, it appears the deal is on the verge of collapsing as the player has declined the opportunity to move on. He intends to remain at Milan until the end of the season, helping the club compete with Inter Milan for the Serie A title.

The Rossoneri are currently embroiled in a difficult title race with their cross-town rivals. They are currently trailing the defending champions by four points at the top of Serie A, with Napoli also involved in the equation.

Kessie believes his presence can greatly help the team keep up with the Nerazzurri. At the same time, he appears unlikely to prolong his stay at San Siro beyond the summer when his current contract comes to an end. It should essentially make him a free agent at the end of the season, giving him an opportunity to bag a more lucrative wage packet.

Kessie is a free agent next summer. (Photo courtesy: AFP/Getty)
Kessie is a free agent next summer. (Photo courtesy: AFP/Getty Images)

Tottenham had targeted Kessie as an ideal man to accompany Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the middle of the park. During his time at Milan, the former Atalanta starlet has showcased a lot of versatility in midfield and has often been quite effective going forward. It might have combined well with the defence-oriented Hojbjerg or even Oliver Skipp.

In addition, the Lilywhites are bracing themselves for the departure of a few of their star midfielders. Tanguy Ndombele is already subjected to a move away from Tottenham, with Paris Saint-Germain reportedly in advanced talks over a short-term loan deal.

Aside from the Frenchman, Giovani Lo Celso is also facing an uncertain future at the club. The Argentine has fallen out of favour under Conte and has recently attracted interest from Sevilla. Their potential departures could accentuate the need for a new midfielder, but with Kessie seemingly uninterested in a mid-season move to Tottenham, Conte may have to set his sights on other alternatives in the market.

Comments 2

  1. Paul says:

    All seems like a smoke screen as usual.Only days of the window to go and no players in.All this talk.Surely serious professional clubs start at the beggining of the window to get players.This is another Levy masterclass in not spending to strengthen the squad and another snub to the loyal fans at Spurs.

  2. Tony Borg says:

    The Spurs board can’t turn round and say they ran out of time, they’ve had the whole month to sort things our but insist in starting to deal late for the reason of saying we ran out of time, you can’t fool the fans anymore. All of Levy’s underhand tactics are plain to see as we’ve seen them so many times before. His poor recruitment over the years are coming back to bite him as now he can’t get rid of all the poor signings he’s made to make room for more. Levy wouldn’t know a quality signing if he jumped up and kicked him in the teeth. Always linked to the top signings but buying sub quality signings. This window alone we’ve been linked to Vlahovic, De Ligt, Kessie, Dybala, Dembele and Skriniar, I wonder how many of those will sign? Looks like we’ll end up with the likes of Traore who’s scored one goal and no assists all season, looks like we might sign another striker, no ones ever heard of, probably on par with Vinicius. LOL. And God knows what midfielder and centre half we might sign, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck probably. It makes me laugh when the fickle fans get all excited when they hear we’re going to sign this player or that player, Traore’s not that great and look at how long it’s taken Levy to try and get that deal done, LOL He has no chance in signing a top player, they’ve all heard about him lying to Harry Kane and it seems as if Levy has been telling more porkies, this time to Conte. Can’t wait to see what quality Levy thinks he’s going to sign. LOL LOL LOL
    Levy, Lewis and ENIC OUT !!

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