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Romano: Spurs and Everton reach agreement for permanent transfer of Dele

This one hurts. A lot.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United - Premier League Photo by Chloe Knott - Danehouse/Getty Images

I was halfway through writing an article about how Dele might be involved in a permanent transfer for Everton but that there was still work to be done...

..And then I checked Fabrizio Romano’s timeline.

That’s all we know at this point—

In a lot of ways this transfer makes sense. I think Dele is the kind of player who will do very well at a club like Everton, and as much as I don’t like the man personally, Frank Lampard seems like the kind of manager who can get the most out of him.

But man, this hurts. Watching Dele’s spiral into mediocrity the last few seasons has been brutal, given he came into this club and set the world on fire as a teenager. There was no expectation that he would fall off as hard as he did.

This will be a permanent deal if it does indeed get over the line. Everton are maxed on loan players so the only way to do it is an outright purchase. It’s not going to sniff to the £100m valuation Dele had a few years ago, that’s for sure. We’re waiting for that number, but if it clears £20m, it’s basically a coup.

UPDATE (10:43AM ET): Uh....yeah that £20m was very ambitious apparently.

UPDATE #2 (10:50AM ET): We’re being told that TalkSport live reported the fee is anywhere between £30m-£45m based on matches played and escalators. Clearly there’s something missing here and we need one of the main Spurs beat writers to get the full details.

UPDATE #3 (11:15AM ET): So this is looking to be a very complicated deal. Dan Kilpatrick hasn’t exactly confirmed or denied the structure, but weighed in on it with the same sadness we have.

Now, as for the transfer itself, Alex Crook from TalkSport gave just a bit more information on what he’s hearing:

It seems the complication is three-fold for Everton:

  • They are maxed on loans.
  • They have no money to spend right now other than wages.
  • They’re in bad FFP compliance.

So how do you unload a player with these issues? You get creative, and that’s what this sounds like. Spurs are trying to do everyone a favor by making this a “free transfer” with a ton of escalators. Jonathan Veal is saying as such:

This makes the most sense. If you make the escalators easy to hit, Everton will get some cash this summer (if they don’t get relegated) and Spurs will get paid off then.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE #4 (11:27 AM ET): This sounds a lot better.