Sporting have rejected a player-plus-cash offer from Premier League club Tottenham for right-wing-back Pedro Porro, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Antonio Conte is eager to bolster his squad this month with his side facing an uphill battle to finish inside the top four.
The Italian actually has plenty of options in Porro’s position in Emerson Royal, Matt Doherty and Djed Spence.
However, Emerson and Doherty have not been playing very well this season, while Spence has not been given a chance to impress.
Spence was excellent on loan at Nottingham Forest last season, helping the Reds earn promotion to the top flight.
Tottenham splashed out over £10million on the 22-year-old, with Conte admitting at the time it was a “club signing”.
Conte is definitely a win-now type of manager and does not seem interested in nurturing young talent.
With Emerson and Doherty not playing at the level required, the former Chelsea head coach has identified Porro as his top target this month.
Unsurprisingly, the London club are trying to get the Spaniard for a cheap price, with Sporting insisting he will cost how much his release clause is: £40m.
Despite Sporting’s stance, Spurs have lodged an opening bid as opposed to triggering the release clause and getting a deal done quickly.
This is according to Fabrizio Romano, who says the offer has already been turned down.
Spurs offered ‘one player plus guaranteed money’, with the unnamed player ‘keen’ on joining the Portuguese side.
Romano says ‘negotiations will continue’ with Sporting insisting the Premier League outfit pay the release clause.
A £40m deal would not too outrageous given some of the deals we have seen in recent years.
It is also unclear who the unnamed Spurs player involved in the deal is.
It would make sense for the player to be a right-wing-back so Sporting don’t have to worry about finding a replacement.
All three options make sense to me, with Conte clearly not a fan of Spence, though you would expect him to be motivated to remain in England.
Emerson, on the other hand, is a player who the fans are not too fond of and would probably be willing to move to a country where he knows the language.
Doherty is probably the most unlikely of the three to be open to a deal with Conte favouring him in recent weeks, so the Italian will probably want him to stick around to provide depth.
Moving away from that position, you have Eric Dier, who used to play for Sporting, though he is a regular starter and recently earned an England recall.
Could someone like Bryan Gil be involved in a potential deal?
What seems obvious to me is that Spurs will end up paying the release clause. Come on, Mr Levy, get your money out.
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