Tottenham respond to Cody Gakpo snub by raiding Everton – ‘Agreement in principle reached’ | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur have reacted to Liverpool winger Cody Gakpo deciding to choose Manchester City by swiftly agreeing a deal for Everton star Iliman Ndiaye, according to The Athletic journalist David Ornstein.

Tottenham had a deal in place on personal terms with Gakpo for weeks.

However, Gakpo has decided to join Manchester City, who are ready to pay Liverpool £85million for the Netherlands international winger.

While Tottenham are disappointed with Gakpo’s decision, the north London club have moved swiftly and have struck a deal for Everton winger Ndiaye.

Everton winger Iliman Ndiaye agrees to join Tottenham

Top transfer journalist Ornstein posted on X at 10:19am on August 30: “EXCL: Agreement in principle reached for Iliman Ndiaye to join Tottenham Hotspur from Everton & Richarlison to move opposite way in separate transfers.

“Deals for 26yo #EFC attacker + 29yo #THFC forward subject to personal terms / medicals”

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano noted on X at 10:51am: “Tottenham and Everton have reached an agreement on double deal with Iliman Ndiaye to #THFC and Richarlison back to #EFC.

“It’s up to the two players: Richarlison in talks with Everton as he has 3 offers, Ndiaye said yes to Spurs project.

“Deal on – follows @David_Ornstein”

Romano added at 11:03am: “Iliman Ndiaye has given green light to Tottenham contract proposal, ready to join Spurs project under Roberto de Zerbi.

“The agreement now depends on Richarlison to accept Everton move as #THFC are ready to close the double deal.”

Tottenham fans will hope that the signing of Ndiaye from Everton will enhance their chances of winning Premier League matches.

Spurs suffered a 3-0 defeat to Brentford in their opening Premier League game of the game.

Although Tottenham subsequently beat Charlton Athletic 5-1 in the League Cup, the north London club went down 2-0 to Newcastle United at home in the league on Saturday.

After the defeat to Newcastle, Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi said: “No, I’m disappointed for the result, and I’m sorry for the fans, for the environment, because after two defeats, maybe somebody can think it’s the same story, the same as the last two seasons.

“I have no doubt it’s not like this. I think I can’t change my opinion after two defeats.

“I have a big, big confidence in the qualities of my players.

“At the end, when we become a team, when we improve the connection between the players, when we improve the quality of the play, when we improve the defensive space, the distances between the attackers, defenders, midfielders, when we create a team, this group, with me or with another coach, nothing changes, because they are too good players.

“I’m sorry for the club, because they are building a great squad, but maybe now we are not ready yet, for many, many reasons.

“We are not ready yet, for many reasons, but today, I think, until the first goal, we played better than Newcastle.

“Newcastle is a good team, good coach, good player, good at everything, but we created more chances to score, we shot more times, we had the control of the ball more than Newcastle.

“We suffered too much in two or three situations in the first half, because the distance between the attackers and defenders was too big, too much space, and then after the goal we conceded, I think we lost the confidence.

“The reaction was not good enough, not the reaction I want to see on the pitch, and I said immediately after the end of the game, the players, because when you are building something new, it’s tough, there are problems, the difference is how you want to find the solution of these problems, and the solution is not to put down the head, but to react, because we had 20 minutes again to score one, two or maybe three goals.”