It finally seems that, after a protracted saga that commenced long before Christmas, Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on their primary winter transfer target – Pedro Porro, Sporting CP’s Spanish right wing-back.
All the murmurs that have arisen throughout the course of the day have on the whole been positive. On Tuesday, it was reported that Spurs would engage in a meeting with Sporting that would make or break the deal with Sporting to take Porro to N17, and it seems that that bout of dialogue between the two clubs was positive, leaving the deal imminent.
Spurs have ostensibly agreed to Porro’s release clause of €45million, which will see the 23-year-old join the Londoners on a 5-and-a-half-year deal until June 2023, as per Fabrizio Romano:
Pedro Porro’s contract as Tottenham player will be valid until June 2028, five year and half deal — and not 2027 ⚪️📑🔒 #THFC
Spurs and Sporting are closing in on the payment terms in 2/3 installments and then… done deal.
All parties confident to get it done. pic.twitter.com/Os5cG5AaPr
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 26, 2023
As per Sport Witness, there is still work to do to convince Sporting over the structure of the payment – Sporting of course want the full valuation of Porro’s release clause in one sitting, but Spurs want to pay 40m now and 5m further on down the line.
Of course, Sporting’s desire to obtain the full fee now is driven by the fact that Manchester City will be entitled to roughly €11million of the sale under the terms that saw him depart Manchester for Lisbon several years ago, leaving Sporting wth €34million at the end of the deal.
Morever, Football.London report that Sporting would want to keep hold of Porro for Saturday’s Taca da Liga final against Porto while they do not have a replacement to call upon. I would be on board with this, as they need him for a cup final more than we need him for an FA Cup tie!
For a moment, it seemed as though Chelsea would do a Willian and hijack Spurs’ move for Porro, but now it appears that they have made their mind up to go for Lyon’s right-back Malo Gusto instead. This makes the deal for Porro seem like a case of when, rather than if, he’ll link up with Spurs – here’s hoping Spurs can get this over the line in due course.
In the meantime, have your say on the potential Porro transfer or any other Spurs-related matters on the Vital Spurs fan forum here.