Spurs close to £8m deal for Juan Foyth

Tottenham Hotspur may be close to their first signing of the transfer window. Representatives from Estudiantes are reportedly in negotiations for the transfer of 19-year old Argentina U20 center back Juan Foyth, according to Sky’s Lyall Thomas. The fee likely to be around £8m.

The player himself seemed to confirm this in a post match interview with La Dia, a La Plata newspaper:

“La verdad que no lo sé. Me enteré que están negociando con el Tottenhan. Pero la verdad es que no sé hasta dónde van a llegar y si finalmente seré transferido. Pregunto poco y no quiero saber demasiado”

“Truthfully, I don’t know. I heard they're negotiating with Tottenham. But the truth is, I don't know how far they're going to go and if I'm finally transferred. I don’t ask a lot and I don't want to know too much"

Foyth is a highly-rated young center back, but he’s probably not going to be thrown into the first team immediately. Lyall thinks that he’s more likely to join the reserve squad and learn from Toby Alderweireld, whom he might eventually replace.

The more I read about this kid the more I think he might end up being a pretty astute signing. There are still questions about whether he’d be able to procure a work permit, and Spurs fans shouldn’t expect him to come in and make an immediate impact, but this transfer, if it happens, would be another example of Mauricio Pochettino playing the long game and looking for young players that can be developed into stars.