Spurs in pole position to sign Portuguese International

Silly Season is in full swing with the transfer window officially open in England as of June 9. Tottenham Hotspur, as is tradition, are linked with roughly 83% of Europe and we’re waiting for the smoke to clear before deciding what rumors are actually possible. One of those rumors involve FC Porto fullback Ricardo Pereira, who just returned to his parent club after a successful two year stint at Nice in Ligue 1.

Today, Sport Witness are citing a report from Portuguese outlet Record stating that Spurs are now at the head of the pack to sign Pereira. There’s not too much here that’s new, but the report is the most promising as of yet.

Tottenham Hotspur’s chase for Ricardo Pereira is really gaining strength in Portugal. The club are now presented as the leaders in the race by Record today, and the likelihood of a sale had increased.

Record, a Portuguese newspaper, claims that Porto’s plans were to renew Pereira’s contract and increase his release clause right after the end of his loan spell at Nice. But this is said to be a ‘mission almost impossible’, with Spurs being the ‘most serious candidate’ to pay his €25m (£21.8m) release clause this summer.

We already knew about the release clause that Pereira had in place and Porto has done nothing to deny its existence other than not give a comment. The quotes that are coming from the report appear to be from a source at Porto, but take it with a grain of salt.

There hasn’t been much of a change on the Kyle Walker front other than the expectation that Manchester City are going to come in with a bid of around £40m and Spurs need a suitable replacement if he’s headed north. Pereira seems to fit the mold of what Pochettino wants, given that he has played as both a winger and a fullback on the right side. That versatility makes him ideal in the 3-4-2-1 as a wingback.

We know that Kieran Trippier is happier than Scrooge McDuck swimming in his money pit and isn’t going anywhere. Kyle Walker-Peters, after having a very successful U20 World Cup, is more than likely the future but still isn’t ready for first team action on a regular basis.

Your TL;DR on this is pretty simple: Porto seem resigned to their fate and will get about £22m for Pereira, Spurs are going to get their replacement while Kyle Walker will be free to head to another club if he chooses to.