Out-of-favour Barcelona loanee will return to the club at the end of the season – Romano

According to Fabrizio Romano (via Caught Offside), Barcelona loanee Clement Lenglet looks all set to return to the club at the end of the season from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 27-year-old Frenchman had fallen out of favour at Camp Nou over the past season and was hence shipped out to Tottenham on loan in the summer. The Lilywhites did not include an option to make his transfer permanent at the end of the campaign.

Since moving to north London, Lenglet has been unable to cement a place in Antonio Conte’s starting XI. To date, the French international has played just 13 times in the Premier League and has not featured for a single minute in their last three league outings.

There have been speculations that Tottenham are already looking for a new centre-back in the summer, with names like Marc Guehi and Josko Gvardiol doing the rounds.

Amidst this, Romano has confirmed that, as things stand, Lenglet will be returning to Barcelona in the summer, with no negotiations taking place between the two clubs over a permanent transfer as of yet.

However, the transfer expert does mention that it is still too early in the day and things could change in the coming weeks.

“There’s no option to buy in the agreement for Clement Lenglet,” Romano said.

“He will go back to Barcelona in the summer; let’s see if Tottenham will contact Barça to negotiate, at this stage it didn’t happen but it’s still really, really early.”

Lenglet joined Barcelona from fellow La Liga club Sevilla in the summer of 2018 and soon established himself as Gerard Pique’s centre-back partner at the club.

However, his form and stature had been on the wane prior to his loan move. His contract with the Blaugrana runs until 2026 and it is very much likely that Barça will look to offload him permanently in the summer. Whether Tottenham show an interest in signing him on a full-time basis remains to be seen.