Romano: Spurs still negotiating for Pedro Porro

It’s been quiet for a few days on the Pedro Porro front, and while there’s a new update it’s unlikely to make anyone feel much better. According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham are still in active negotiations to sign the Sporting right wing back, but the Portuguese club are holding firm to their €45m purchase clause demands.

The interesting bit here is that Romano suggests Spurs have tried to include a current Tottenham player as a makeweight. I don’t know who that player is (I would bet my house that this player is Emerson Royal) but it’s new information, and wholly unsurprising considering Spurs already have three right backs at the club.

Now, if you want to get a little weird, this might not be all bad news. Usually clubs don’t go into these kinds of negotiations without a great amount of behind the scenes legwork. If there are reports of bids along with “negotiations continue” caveats, is tends to imply that at minimum the clubs are open to the idea of negotiating for something other than their public facing asking price. It’s not Fabio Paratici calling Sporting and saying “How about this?” “No.” “OK, this?” “No.”

So should we take any hope for this? Maybe, maybe not. Spurs are clearly a little gun-shy about just outright paying €45m for Porro, especially because Sporting is likely asking for the bulk of that fee up front which isn’t something that’s usually done. This does seem to be something like a high stakes game of chicken, and it’s not clear which club will blink first. In the meantime, I guess we should take some solace in the fact that at least everyone is still talking?