Carlos Vinicius has been one of the better deputy strikers to Harry Kane in recent years, with only Fernando Llorente really coming close and Vincent Janssen, Clinton N’Jie and Roberto Soldado all flopping at Tottenham – with the latter arriving before Kane even broke into the first team.
According to Portuguese media outlet Correio da Manha, Vinicius is likely to remain in North London if Daniel Levy can negotiate the fee down to around £20 million.
At the moment, Spurs have a deal in place with the striker’s parent club Benfica that they can trigger a permanent deal at any given time should they decide to pay the clause of £38 million.
This man is fully COYS. I don't care about his shady touch, he's out there doing his best.
— ap (@otheranthony) March 24, 2021
This lad is Spurs through and through.
20m is worth it all day.
I don't wanna hear who he has scored against. The majority of tike he plays, Kane is rested. 20m or so is worth it just for this perk alone.
Get him scoring when fans are in and he's a different player then.
— Boobel – 'Mate' 🥹 🇦🇺 (@the_boobel) March 24, 2021
However, that amount of money is a large figure for a player who has only scored one Premier League goal and will be playing second fiddle to one of the best strikers in the entire world, so if the Portuguese club refuse to accept anything less than £25 million, the deal would be incredibly unlikely.
Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor spoke to Football Insider and also believes that the deal won’t go ahead if Spurs are made to pay the clause should they try and bring Vinicius to North London full time.
“He’s not worth £38million,” said Agbonlahor.
“Spurs know he’s the perfect second striker for Harry Kane. A striker who’s not going to moan when he’s not playing and when he comes in if Kane’s injured he’ll do a decent job.
“He’s never going to score loads and loads of goals in the Premier League, he’s just an above-average player.
“Spurs are thinking ‘for that sort of player, we can’t just spend £37m, £20m maximum for someone like him.
“If they can’t negotiate that then I don’t think they’ll get him at all.”
Vinicius has 10 goals and three assists in 21 appearances this season in all competitions, with 12 of the games he has played in starting with him on the bench.
The return is impressive considering most strikers who have deputised for Kane have not had similar impacts at the club and have struggled under pressure, and after his first Premier League goal against Aston Villa at the weekend, hopefully more goals start to flow.
"Whenever I scored a goal, she’d show it to the whole town. So now what’s the fun in scoring goals? She won’t be seeing it anymore."
Setbacks and heartbreak – to scoring in the Premier League.
📺 Watch Carlos Vinicius’ remarkable story on YouTube#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/2GQe9ehwwR
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 22, 2021
There is plenty more still to come from Vinicius though, and with Dane Scarlett and Troy Parrott breathing down his neck to take his place in the squad, the final part of the season will be crucial for the striker to take his chances when they come if he does want to make the move to Spurs.