Report: Tottenham delay sell-on clause to facilitate Marcus Edwards sale to Sporting

Remember Marcus Edwards? The former Tottenham Hotspur youth player was hot stuff for a number of years, considered one of the biggest talents to come out of Spurs’ academy until, well, probably Troy Parrott. Edwards was tipped to have a HUGE future but had some perceived issues with attitude and immaturity that followed him around when he was younger. Spurs ended up selling Edwards two seasons ago to Vitoria Guimares in the Portuguese first division for just over £1m, but with a MASSIVE 50% sell-on clause.

And where this story beings. Edwards has done well in Portugal, tallying 7 goals and 9 assists in the 2019-20 season. His numbers trailed off some this past year — 3 goals and 3 assists in the league — but it’s enough to attract interest from Liga NOS champions Sporting. But a deal reportedly around £10m to send Edwards from Vitoria to Sporting was being held up because Vitoria didn’t want half of that transfer money (£5m) going to Spurs.

According to A Bola (via Sport Witness), Sporting and Tottenham have worked out a deal by which Spurs are now going to waive that 50% sell-on clause for another hefty sell-on clause in Edwards’ current contract at his new club. It’s basically helping to facilitate a move to a bigger club, but could pay more dividends for Spurs down the road.

The report doesn’t state how big the Sporting sell-on clause will be, but we can assume it will be pretty good, but not 50% good. And that’s fine. Edwards is 22, and Sporting is a selling club. If Edwards continues to develop, a couple of years down the road he could move to an even bigger club for an even bigger transfer fee. That could work out to Spurs’ advantage, especially if he ends up back in the Premier League down the road.

We don’t know the math so it’s hard to say what the real numbers are here, but it’s probably safe to say that Spurs feel confident that they’ll get more than £5m from the future sale of Edwards later on. £5m now during COVID struggleball isn’t likely to make THAT much of a difference, and it sounds like both Sporting and Vitoria really need the cash.

This sounds like a win-win for everyone, including Edwards who would be playing at the best club in Portugal next season.