Porr-oh no? Deal for Spanish wingback hangs by a thread as Portuguese club makes unsporting move

Welcome to the wonderful world of Tottenham Hotspur.

After chasing the purchase of Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon all January, it looked like Spurs had finally made a breakthrough in their efforts. Multiple outlets were reporting over the weekend that the two clubs had come to an agreement: a fee paid in two to three installments and Porro being permitted to play in Sporting’s recent cup final before heading to Hotspur Way for a medical. The purchase of Porro had many Spurs fans excited, as an explosive young player in a position of need with potential to elevate Spurs’ attack from the wingback position.

Well, David Ornstein, reporting for The Athletic, is here to rain on everybody’s parade:

Yep. Initially reported in Portuguese press, before being picked up by the Premier League beat writers, it appears Sporting have shifted the goalposts on the agreed terms for Porro. Multiple reports are flying around as to exactly what happened, but this much is clear: Sporting have been a nightmare to deal with through the course of negotiations and they’re committed to only losing their man for a pretty penny.

So what happens now? Well, the deal’s not totally dead. Fabrizio Romano, as well as Dan Kilpatrick from the Evening Standard are reporting we’re headed back to the negotiating table:

The reality in this situation is Sporting have all the leverage and they are putting it to use. They know Porro is our primary target; they know they’ll have more suitors come summer; they know we have very little time to organise a Plan B (though if Paratici is smart he will already have one lined up); and they’ll know there is growing discontent amongst the Tottenham fanbase around the way the club is run, particularly when it comes to player purchases. Daniel Levy is somewhat over a barrel right now.

It’s hard to say exactly where we go from here. As reported above, Porro is said to be devastated and could possibly go on strike to force a move. We know Levy hates losing and could just pony up the extra cash. We also know Levy hates being played for a fool, so he could look elsewhere just because he’s had enough of Sporting’s shenanigans and we could potentially see a late panic buy. We could also (God forbid) buy nobody at all. One thing’s for sure - being a Tottenham Hotspur fan, you know every road ends in pain.

Isn’t silly season fun?