Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino on N’Koudou Transfer Saga
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino discusses the club’s transfer saga with Olympique Marseille.
Speaking with reporters leading up to Saturday’s game between Stoke City and Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino was asked about his thoughts regarding Spurs’ transfer saga with Olympique Marseille.
By now, the protracted transfer negotiations are well documented. It took longer than expected, because transfers are not simple to begin with.
They’re complicated with all parties needing to agree on personal terms.
“Football is not only about football decisions,” Pochettino said (via Hertfordshire Mercury).
“You need to sign contracts, you need to agree things with different clubs.”
“You have a lot of competitors who want to sign players too and sometimes it’s difficult with the timing, but in the end it is good we have the player.”
Spurs first showed interest in Georges-Kévin N’Koudou while they were scouting Michy Batshuayi to address the striker position.
When the Belgian striker’s value was too high — Chelsea paid £33 million for Batshuayi — Spurs shifted their focus to pursue the French winger instead.
Once reports surfaced that Tottenham were linked to N’Koudou, both Marseille and Spurs had quickly reached an agreement. Though, before the deal was officially sealed the Ligue 1 club’s hierarchy underwent a makeover which postponed a transfer.
Marseille’s new front office began reviewing a once done deal. The fact that Daniel Levy wanted to redo his original offer didn’t make things easier.
Eventually, after about one month of back and forth talks, Spurs and Marseille reached a second agreement. The terms of the deal remained the same.
The transfer fee was still £11 million, N’Koudou would join Tottenham permanently while Clinton N’Jie would go the other way on a season-long loan.
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As Pochettino said, football isn’t about just football decisions.
From Spurs and Marseille’s point of view, they would essentially trade one winger for another, but other factors played a major part in finalizing a deal.
How much would Marseille want for N’Koudou? How much does N’Koudou want to earn?
N’Jie needed to get a visa to play in Ligue 1 again. Did he want to leave Spurs after joining them just last summer?
It’s not as simple as scouting a player, beginning negotiations with said player, his agent and the club, before agreeing to a deal in a matter of days.
While Spurs tend to have drawn out conversations with transfers, each club handles these things differently. Tottenham can complete a a deal quickly or slowly.
Victor Wanyama’s signing was quick, Vincent Janssen’s took a while. N’Koudou and López were slow while Sissoko was done in a matter of hours.
It was a hectic transfer window but Spurs bolstered their squad at five positions.
Deadline day saw three players join Tottenham and while Mauricio Pochettino was on vacation at Spain, he was happy with his squad even if he signed two players.
After bringing N’Koudou, López and Sissoko on board, Pochettino was still happy.
Next: What Can Tottenham Expect from Stoke City?
“I was relaxed,” Pochettino added.
“As you know, I was in Spain, I’m not too worried about all that [deadline day].”
“I was happy before in the last few days with the squad that we had, then after we added three players in the last few days, I was happy too.”
“We have a squad to compete in different competitions, it will be tough for us this season. I am happy with my squad.”