FC Barcelona have announced the outgoing transfer of Clement Lenglet.
FC Barcelona have announced a much-needed player departure on the summer transfer window's deadline day.
As revealed in a statement published approaching 13.00 local time in Catalonia on Friday afternoon, Barca and Premier
"There is no purchase option," explained the Catalans, noting that former France international Lenglet will return to England for the second season running following a temporary assignment at Tottenham Hotspur in 2022/2023.
"With Spurs, the centre-back had a fairly regular performance and played a total of 35 games, 26 of them in the Premier League. And it must be remembered that in the summer of 2022 Barca and the English club reached an agreement for the transfer of the Frenchman, who had signed for Barça from Sevilla four years earlier," the Blaugrana added.
At the start of the summer, Spurs were expected to agree to pay a fee of up to €15 million ($16.3 million) to make Lenglet's move permanent but a concrete offer never materialized.
There was also interest in Lenglet from Saudi Arabia, but the 28-year-old ultimately turned down an approach and decided not to follow the trajectory of now former Barca star Franck Kessie who joined Al-Ahli last month in a deal worth €12.5 million ($13.55 million).
As they did in 2022 when buying club record signing Phillipe Coutinho, Aston Villa have yet again saved the day for Barca.
This season, with part of his salary deferred from the post-pandemic fallout, Lenglet was expected to earn between €12-16 million ($13-17.35 million).
While it is unthinkable for a player who forms no part of first team manager Xavi Hernandez's taking home such an amount while warming the bench even in the best of times, Barca's financial woes meant that Lenglet had to be offloaded - even if not permanently - before the close of the window.
In 10 months' time, Barca will hope that Lenglet has impressed enough at Villa Park to make the Birmingham club want to buy him full-time.
Though as specified, his arrangement does not have a purchase option and this would have to be engineered in a separate deal.