Conte can finally axe "very lazy" flop as Spurs now eye £27m-rated "complete athlete" - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur appear to be lining up a move for Renato Sanches this off-season…

The box-to-box Lille midfielder is named among a shortlist by the Daily Mail, who claim that the 24-year-old is wanted by the north Londoners.

Their interest comes as no surprise given that they were reported to be battling arch-rivals Arsenal for his signature in January, as per Spanish outlet AS.

It remains to be seen whether the Ligue 1 outfit would sell their star midfielder, though history would suggest that would be likely, and how much he’d command in terms of a fee.

Sanches is currently valued at £27m by Transfermarkt.

A new midfielder is probably the least of the priorities for manager Antonio Conte but that could soon change, with Harry Winks and Giovani Lo Celso linked with an exit.

Tanguy Ndombele is set to return from his loan stint with Lyon, who aren’t going to take up their option to buy, but it’s still hard to envisage a future for him at the club, especially amid interest in Sanches.

The Portuguese dynamo could quickly usurp the £55m club-record flop at Hotspur Way.

A career average of 4.3 total dribbles, 2.5 attempted tackles, 1.6 shots, 1.4 key passes and one interception per 90 minutes, via WhoScored, suggests that Sanches is very much capable of influencing games at either end of the pitch.

That is something that the Lilywhites faithful have rarely seen from Ndombele, who only mustered 3.2 successful dribbles, 0.8 shots and 0.6 key passes from his 33-game Premier League campaign in 2020/21.

During his time in England, his performances have been heavily criticised, with Alan Hutton describing him as “very lazy” and slamming his “bad attitude” to Football Insider.

Meanwhile, the Lille man has been lauded as a