While Tottenham’s interest in Florian Thauvin is nothing new, the timing of the rumour’s resurgence by RMC Sport is a strange one.
This isn’t because the player is having a bad season, far from it, but mostly because he’s only just left the Premier League, a league he struggled in hugely.
Marseille have already activated the buyout clause in his loan deal from Newcastle, and the forward will rejoin his former club permanently come the end of the season.
Of course, the prospect of playing under Mauricio Pochettino is an attractive one, yet having just started to find form at a club he holds so close to his heart means leaving in the summer of 2017 is probably off the cards.
Furthermore, with the Ligue 1 club trying to build a competitive project, selling one of their stars isn’t on their agenda, as he was only dispatched to the north of England in the first place in 2015 to balance the books.
Mauricio Pochettino is reported to have asked his mentor and former Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa about the 24-year-old, and considering the relationship between the two during El Loco’s time in France, he likely only had good things to say about him.
That Tottenham are interested in him, potentially to replace an injured Erik Lamela for next season, is one thing, but with the season he’s just had at Marseille, including earning himself a call-up to the France national team, returning to the Premier League so soon after leaving it makes no sense whatsoever.
Thauvin has been key to Marseille’s resurgence this season, with 12 goals and seven assists to his name in 33 league appearances.
