Tottenham Hotspur in pole position to sign Carlos Vinicius
Tottenham Hotspur are close to the signing of long-term target Carlos Vinicius in a deal that is expected to see him join the club initially on a loan deal.
Spurs would then have the option to sign the Brazilian forward on a permanent deal for a fee in the region of 45 million euros, much below his current 100 million euro release clause and even below the 60 million euro bid they received for his services back in January from an undisclosed Premier League club.
However, after Benfica failed to qualify for the Champions League and earn a huge 40 million euro windfall after a surprise loss to PAOK, Benfica’s stance on the player has changed as they look to make up some of the money that they ‘lost’ as a result of their failure on the European stage, and are willing to listen to significantly lower offers as a result.
As reported last month, Jose Mourinho has been very keen on signing Carlos Vinicius, seeing the 25-year old striker as the ideal forward to offer additional competition to Harry Kane, and Spurs have stepped up their interest once again, this time with success.
Tottenham Hotspur have, over the course of the last month, shown a firm and significant interest in the Brazilian, having even previously submitted an official offer in the region of 30 million euros for the Benfica poacher as they continue to look to add some quality depth up front to compete with Harry Kane, but their initial approach was unsuccessful.
Spurs have not been the only interested party, with a couple of other English clubs looking into the possibility of signing the former Napoli and Monaco man this window to bolster their attacking options. According to TVI24, both Crystal Palace and Leicester City had been looking into the possibility of signing Vinicius, but ultimately look set to miss out on his signature this window.
Crystal Palace are short on out-and-out striker options and have been looking to add to the squad they already have, while Leicester City wanted additional competition for star striker Jamie Vardy.
Benfica have already sold Ruben Dias this window to Manchester City for a 68 million euro fee after their Champions League failure, but club president Luis Filipe Vieira is keen to secure the club’s financial future and offload Vinicius while his stock is still high.
Having signed the likes of Luca Waldschmidt and Darwin Nunez this season, Benfica have a couple of strikers that are ahead of Vinicius in the pecking order, while youngster Goncalo Ramos is also showing immense promise and is likely to be promoted to the senior team after impressing for Benfica B.
Carlos Vinicius. Photo author: Антон Зайцев. License link.
