Tottenham transfer clears hurdle with personal terms agreed, but opening bid is unsatisfactory
A transfer between Tottenham and AC Milan is there for the making after personal terms were settled, though there remains work to do regarding the fee after an opening bid was deemed unsatisfactory.
Spurs have already made their first major signing of the summer after completing a deal to sign Leeds United ace Archie Gray last week
Catch the Euros from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN for less than £6 a month
The highly-rated 18-year-old cost £40m, while centre-back Joe Rodon moved the other way in a £10m switch.
Tottenham have also welcomed Lucas Bergvall to the club after initially agreeing to sign the Swedish wonderkid in January. 16-year-old striker sensation George Feeney has also arrived from Glentoran.
Further additions are wanted, with Tottenham seeking new blood at centre-back, on the wings and up front. Their pursuit of Crystal Palace talisman Eberechi Eze is expected to accelerate after the Euros.
To ensure Ange Postecoglou can afford to sign the calibre of player he craves, numerous exits that will bolster the transfer kitty are being explored.
Among those Spurs are seeking to offload is right-back Emerson Royal.
EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal hold talks for electric winger signing, but Tottenham could pounce if £60m transfer collapses
Emerson Royal agrees personal terms with AC Milan
The 25-year-old has been deemed surplus to requirements and a transfer to Serie A giant AC Milan is quickly gathering pace.
Our transfer insider, Rudy Galetti, recently revealed an agreement on personal terms has been struck between Emerson and Milan, with a five-year contract ironed out.
The 10-cap Brazil international will pocket around €3m per season in Milan. That roughly equates to a weekly wage of £50,000.
But while that aspect of the deal has been sealed, there remains plenty of work to do regarding the transfer fee.
Tottenham unimpressed with Milan’s opening offer
According to a fresh update from Sky Italia, Milan have thundered in with their opening bid.
Precisely how much the offer was worth wasn’t stated, though the report strongly suggests it has either already been rejected or soon will be.
Tottenham are determined to collect €25m/£21m from Emerson’s sale. TEAMtalk has been told Milan are as yet unwilling to go higher than €20m/£17m.
As you might expect with that information in hand, Sky Italia state ‘there is still a gap between supply and demand’ after bringing news of Milan’s opening bid.
Nonetheless, there is hope a deal will eventually be thrashed out, with the report noting the next 10 days are expected to be crucial.
Furthermore, Milan are huge admirers of Emerson’s versatility given he can play at both right-back and left-back. While it wasn’t an experiment that worked out all that well, Emerson also deputised at centre-back on occasion last season.
There are no suggestions Milan will walk away from the move, and all eyes will now be on whether they submit a new and improved bid.
If they don’t, the onus will be on Tottenham to lower their demands or they’ll run the risk of the deal collapsing.
Regardless of what Tottenham do in the transfer market this summer, Ange Postecoglou must get more out of five key players next season if the club are to crack the top four and get back in the Champions League.
Spurs ended up missing out to Aston Villa by two pints in the race for fourth spot after only winning two of their final seven Premier League games of the season.
Their finish was a polar opposite to how they started under Postecoglou last season, going unbeaten in their first 10 games and topping the table.
Injuries, suspensions and a loss of form from some key men eventually derailed a campaign that had promised so much and the Australian openly admitted he did not have the players in his squad capable of playing the brand of football that will bring that first piece of silverware since 2008 – let alone challenging for the top-four spots.
To that end, Tottenham are expected to busy in the summer transfer window, with Postecoglou looking at bolstering the spine of his side with another centre-back, a central midfielder and a new No.9.
But, if some of those proposed signings do not come off, then the Spurs chief will have to get more out of some of the players who in some way let him down last season.
A combination of multiple factors has led to this list and not everyone will agree, but Postecoglou needs to get certain messages across to ensure that what happened in the second half of last season does not materialise again.
Leave a Reply