Mousa Dembele’s preference for a three-year extension to his contract threatens to further complicate Tottenham Hotspur’s desire to find an agreement with the Belgian midfielder.

Dembele cast doubt on his Spurs future by revealing he will not discuss extending his current deal until after the World Cup and leaving open the possibility that this could be his final campaign at the club.

The 30-year-old’s contract will only have 12 months remaining at the end of this season and manager Mauricio Pochettino is desperate to keep the man he has hailed “a genius.”

But Dembele realises this is likely to be his last big contract and wants a minimum three-year extension, taking him to 2022, when he will turn 35 in July.

Given Dembele’s injury record, it would represent a big risk for Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to agree to a pay increase that would effectively run for four more years from this summer.

But Spurs are also aware that Dembele has interest from Europe, and in particular Italy, following his superb Champions League performance against Juventus in Turin.