Real reason behind Tottenham’s £11m signing delay revealed

He eventually completed an £11 million transfer to Tottenham on Deadline Day but an earlier deal to take Georges-Kevin N’Koudou to Spurs was held up by Marseille’s sporting director, report HITC.

Gunter Jacob was the man who ensured that N’Koudou’s Spurs transfer was put on hold with the director telling La Provence that he intercepted the deal already agreed by Vincent Labrune.

With club president Labrune exiting Stade Velodrome this summer, Jacob took a dislike to the deal that had been put in place by his predecessor.

Jacob claimed: “When I am asked to make decisions and sign things, I want to take responsibility, but I do not want to sign something that does not suit me. These were legal details (and) financial.

“The Supervisory Board followed me. The chairman of Tottenham was disgruntled, but we did well. He still said, ‘That will do for me.’

“I told him that next time, I hoped to start negotiations.”

With ineffective Tottenham signing Clinton N’Jie heading to Marseille in the opposite direction to sweeten the deal on Deadline Day, N’Koudou still awaits his Tottenham debut.

The 21-year-old winger only took one season with Marseille to convince Spurs they wanted the player with N’Koudou scoring five goals in 28 Ligue 1 appearances last term.