Spurs all-action midfielder Mousa Dembele is set to leave the club imminently. Sky Sports reports that Spurs have accepted a bid of £9 million for the Belgian from Chinese club Beijing Sinobo Guoan.
Dembele has played a crucial part in Spurs development into a consistent Champions League side in recent seasons, but the 31-year old has struggled for fitness for a long time, having only featured in 10 league games this campaign.
It’s a move that has been on the cards for quite a while and though Spurs will miss his commanding presence in midfield, Mauricio Pochettino has very much got used to not having Dembele in his side, thanks to his frequent and repeated injuries.
It’s quite a turnaround from around a two years ago, when Pochettino claimed Dembele was one of five ‘genius’ players he’d met – alongside Jay-Jay Okocha, Ronaldinho, Maradona, and Ivan de la Pena.
Since those comments, Dembele has featured in less than half of Spurs’ league games, due to injuries.
As such, Dembele was one of a number of players that Pochettino had earmarked as for sale, with the likes of Vincent Janssen and George Kevin Nkoudou set to follow the Belgian in leaving the club this month.
With the costs of a new stadium hampering available transfer funds, it seems Pochettino is keen to offload at least a few fringe players to free up some capital, and it appears Dembele is the first to go.
