According to a report by the Daily Mail, Tottenham have told Benfica that they will not be spending £36m to sign Carlos Vinicius on a permanent deal this summer.
The London club negotiated an option to buy the Brazilian for that figure when they loaned him in last summer, but after a somewhat underwhelming spell at Spurs, they’re not open to paying such a hefty fee to sign a striker.
However, that doesn’t mean that any chance of a permanent move is dead in the water.
Indeed, the report also claims that Daniel Levy is trying to negotiate a new fee for Vinicius, claiming that Spurs are willing to pay £17m for his services this summer.
Whether or not that fee represents good value is up for debate, but it’s a lot more reasonable than the £36m Tottenham could have ended up paying.
Spurs are certainly in the market for a new backup striker this summer, with the likes of Dusan Vlahovic linked, but if Vinicius is available for a cut-price fee, that may be a signing that they may want to consider.
Daniel Levy is one of the toughest negotiators in world football, so this may not be a straight-forward deal to do, but it seems as though Spurs are interested in keeping hold of the Brazilian beyond the end of his current loan deal.
This is certainly a situation to keep an eye on in the coming months.
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