Barcelona ‘in pole position’ to sign Tottenham, Man Utd target
Barcelona are reportedly leading the race to sign AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie in the summer.
The midfielder is out of contract in June and it was reported in January that he had agreed to join Tottenham. He has also been linked with Manchester United.
The 25-year-old has played over 200 times for AC Milan since the start of the 2017/18 campaign.
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Kessie has been an ever-present for Milan across all competitions this term and he featured for Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations.
And according to Marca (via the Daily Mail) Barcelona have been following the Ivorian midfielder ‘for a long time’ and are in ‘pole position’ to sign him in the summer.
The report adds that Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland remains Barca’s number one summer transfer target.
Meanwhile, Simon Jordan has insisted that it is too soon to judge Antonio Conte as Spurs are a “different animal” in comparison to their London rivals Chelsea.
Conte took over at Spurs last November as he replaced former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo.
“We are trying to suggest that Conte should hit the ground running because there was a blueprint which defied all logical convention,” Jordan told talkSPORT.
“That was Thomas Tuchel coming in to Chelsea and turning things upside-down and winning things straight away.
“Chelsea and Tottenham are very different animals. They’ve had very different investment criteria, so it’s easier for Tuchel to do it, albeit still a phenomenal feat.
“Conte, because of the reputation he comes with, because of his achievements previously at Chelsea and in Italy, he comes with the reputation of someone who can get things going in the right direction very quickly. Tottenham is a different animal.
“The bottom line is, I look at Conte and I think to myself, ‘We must judge this guy by what happens next summer’.
“If he doesn’t come out with £150m worth of available cash to spend in the market place, to compete with what Chelsea are likely to spend, to compete with the other guys, then you start to wonder what all this was about.”
