Oh, Souza — we (maybe) barely knew ye. Brazilian outlet GeGlobo is reporting that Portuguese giants Porto are in active negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur for the transfer of the young Brazilian fullback.
Souza, 20, came to Spurs in Janaury of this year for a fee of €15m and if you like to believe Brazilian sports media sources, he might be flipped for a small profit before we’ve even had a chance to properly evaluate him. The report states that Porto are negotiating a fee for him that they’re hoping will end up around €20m, representing a slight profit for a young, but unproven, SkillCorner player who made exactly four appearances for Spurs, totaling 144 minutes of action. According to the report, Souza is looking for a club where he can get more regular minutes. Benfica are also showing interest in him this summer.
There were some reports earlier in the summer that suggested Roberto De Zerbi was high on Souza’s potential, but managers also sometimes lie and I wonder if that’s the case here, or if the idea of flipping him for a profit outweighed the necessity of keeping him around as an untested reserve or sending him on loan. GeGlobo also reports that Santos, Souza’s previous club, owns a 10% sell-on fee due to a clause in Souza’s contract.
Or it could be complete nonsense! We don’t really know! I would hope that if the club decides to sell early on Souza that it would say something about their intent to keep Djed Spence around (and presumably happy), but I don’t really know. This definitely feels like a Bat Country rumor, but it also feels weirdly plausible. It’d be unusual to flip a signing like Souza so quickly after signing him, but if he’s got a market and Spurs maybe include a sell-on or buy-back clause in there maybe it’s fine?
Welcome to the summer transfer window. It’s muggy here.
