Tottenham will need to identify an alternative after having a £20 million bid rejected for Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly.
According to Adam Leventhal of The Athletic, Tottenham Hotspur presented a bid worth £20 million to sign Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth today. But the Cherries have turned down the offer and will unlikely part ways with the 24-year-old centre-back before the summer transfer window shuts down.
Lloyd Kelly is a native of Bristol and spent most of his formative years with Bristol City before graduating from the club’s academy in August 2017 as an 18-year-old. But he rose to prominence after moving to Bournemouth in July 2019. Since then, he has come leaps and bounds, establishing himself as a regular for the Cherries.
But the 24-year-old has not been the undisputed first-choice centre-back for Bournemouth in the Premier League. And Kelly has started only two of the four games played by Andoni Iraola’s team thus far this term. But despite not featuring regularly for Bournemouth, the player’s stock remains high, with Tottenham among his suitors.
The Englishman has been on Tottenham’s radar for a long time. But the North London giants have not pulled the trigger until Deadline Day. That is because they wasted time throughout the ongoing transfer window chasing Clement Lenglet.
While Tottenham had an agreement on personal terms with the Frenchman, they could not find a common ground with Barcelona over a transfer fee. And the 28-year-old is on the verge of joining Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the 2023/24 season. So Tottenham had to identify alternatives to Lenglet, with Lloyd Kelly emerging as a target.
According to Adam Leventhal, Tottenham submitted a bid worth £20 million to Bournemouth for the 24-year-old. But the Cherries have turned down the proposal and will unlikely part ways with the Englishman before the summer transfer window shuts down. In addition, Tottenham did not meet Bournemouth’s valuation either.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will lose Japhet Tanganga in the coming hours, with Eric Dier possibly following suit. But time is running out for the North London giants to complete the numbers in their defensive unit. It will be interesting to see who they identify as an alternative to Kelly.
