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WE HAVE A BACKUP STRIKER! While Tottenham Hotspur has not officially announced it on their social media channels — that’s likely coming tomorrow morning — Benfica today announced on their website that 25-year old striker Carlos Vinicius is heading to North London on a season-long loan, pending a work permit.
The release itself is in Portuguese, but run it through the Google machine and you get the following:
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, SAD informed the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) that it reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur for the loan of player Carlos Vinícius until the end of the 2020/21 sports season for an amount of €3 million.
The said agreement, communicated at 11:56 pm on Thursday, includes a purchase option clause in the amount of €45 million, to which, if exercised, the amount paid for the loan will be deducted.
The said agreement is dependent on the signing of the striker’s sports work contract with Tottenham Hotspur.
The loan fee and contract purchase option (not obligation!) is similar to what we heard from English media sources ahead of the completion of the loan; the loan fee itself is a little lower, and the €45m option (£41m) is a little higher than the £36m previously reported.
Vinicius was a prolific scorer in the Portuguese Liga NOS last season and has some eye-popping statistics. It remains to be seen whether that will translate to the Premier League. The good news is that there isn’t a ton of pressure on him — he’s here to rotate with and back up Harry Kane. One can imagine he’ll see quite a bit of time in the early rounds of the Europa League as well.
Jose Mourinho has been begging for another striker all summer. Vinicius, it’s said, was one of his top targets, and he just got his man.
We’ll probably get an official welcome from Spurs in due course, probably when they finish up the hype video and photography in the morning. Benfica may have spilled the beans a bit early, but it’s still good news. Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur, Carlos Vinicius!