Daniel Levy told Tanguy Ndombele ‘you will not leave until you have signed with us’ before the midfielder completed his £65 million move to Tottenham, according to reports in France.
Spurs smashed their transfer record to sign the France international by agreeing a £55m fee with Lyon, plus a further £10m in add-ons.
Levy has a fierce reputation as a tough negotiator and during Ndombele’s visit to the club’s training ground, the midfielder got a first-hand glimpse of the Spurs chairman in action.
According to L’Equipe, Levy was negotiating contract terms with Ndombele and his two agents Mounir Sidhoum and Romain Fernandez when he told the midfielder that he would remain at Spurs’ training ground until an agreement could be reached.
Ndombele has now become one of Spurs’ top earners by signing a £200,000-a-week contract.
The report also claims that Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino had a secret meeting with Ndombele towards the end of June where he told the France international: ‘Yes, it will be hard but I want to keep the Tanguy that you are. The Tanguy that projects, which breaks lines.’
Tottenham were forced to fend off late interest from Manchester United in the race for Dembele.
Juventus also had several meetings with Ndombele’s entourage before signing Adrien Rabiot on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
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