Sport have revealed that Tottenham could battle Inter Milan for Franck Kessie this summer after the Serie A club entered the race for the Barcelona star’s signature.

The report explains that even though Kessie has played a prominent role at Barca over recent months in light of the injuries the club have had to deal with, the player is not considered ‘non-transferable’.

Barcelona

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It is revealed that when Tottenham made an approach for him in January, Xavi Hernandez did not want to let the midfielder leave since he could not sign a replacement at the time.

However, the Barca hierarchy are thought to be ready to listen to proposals for Kessie in the summer as they need to trim their wage bill.

Although the Catalan club are said to be ‘very happy’ with the Ivorian’s professionalism, they have to make ‘painful decisions’ this summer, given their current financial position, with the former AC Milan man expected to be one of the players sacrificed.

Sport state that representatives from Inter Milan recently had a meeting with Barcelona and the Italian club are convinced that signing Kessie this summer would be possible.

It is asserted that Barcelona would not be willing to sanction a loan deal with an option to buy and would only consider a permanent sale.

The publication claims that Tottenham ‘already know first-hand that Barca are willing to negotiate’ and adds that the transfer could speed up once the La Liga side communicates their final decision regarding Kessie.

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It was quite clear that Kessie was a target for Spurs when Conte and Paratici were in charge.

However, with neither of them now at the club, one would expect the club’s transfer targets to change significantly ahead of the summer.

So, it remains to be seen if Kessie would still be of interest to the North London club.

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