Tottenham Hotspur
Premier League • England
Report reveals Tottenham forward’s exit plan after rival Premier League interest emerges
A report has detailed when Lucas Moura could leave Tottenham after two Premier League clubs failed with deadline-day bids for him.
Lucas joined Tottenham from Paris Saint-Germain in a £25million deal back in January 2018. He has gone on to register 38 goals and 27 assists in 204 matches for the north London side.
Lucas made 45 appearances for Tottenham in all competitions last season, notching six goals in that time.
Rumours of a possible exit have been swirling over the past few months. This is because Spurs bolstered their attacking options with the signing of Dejan Kulusevski in January. The Swede joined on loan, and Antonio Conte’s side will have to make the move permanent if certain conditions are met.
Since then, Spurs have brought in Richarlison from Everton for £60m. Due to this, Lucas is now fifth in Conte’s pecking order.
To make matters worse, the Brazilian is currently recovering from tendon inflammation. Conte has confirmed he will be out for several weeks, ruling him out of the Champions League opener against Marseille on Wednesday, along with several other matches.
According to transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, Premier League teams Newcastle and Aston Villa both made moves to capture Lucas on transfer deadline day (Thursday).
His Spurs contract expires next summer. They have the option to extend it by a further 12 months, but Newcastle and Villa were still hoping to pounce on the uncertainty regarding his future.
However, Spurs chiefs felt Conte could do with having Lucas in his squad for when the 30-year-old returns to full fitness. This decision makes sense as Spurs will have a busy campaign once the UCL group stage gets underway.
Lucas Moura eyeing Spurs departure
Football Insider reveal when Lucas could leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Rather than agree to a one-year extension, he is keen to find a new club when his Spurs deal expires in June 2023.
This fits in with what the forward told Brazil reporter Andre Hernan earlier this year. He said his priority is to ‘fulfil the contract’ with Spurs. At that point, it was unclear whether this meant until 2023 or 2024, following an extension. Now, it seems Lucas is eager to move on sooner rather than later.
And the 35-cap Brazil international will not be short of suitors if he becomes a free agent. He is a player with plenty of experience at the top level, including over 130 appearances in the Prem.
Lucas has always been a hard worker, helping him to become a fan favourite at Spurs. He is also versatile and can operate pretty much anywhere across the forward line. This partly makes up for his lack of goalscoring threat.
It will be interesting to see if Newcastle and Villa come back in for Lucas, should he leave Spurs on a free.