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Googly-Elmo is nearly a Tottenham Hotspur player. News broke yesterday that Spurs had pulled the plug on their negotiations with Brentford for David Raya and opted to shift focus to another target, in this case the highly-rated Guglielmo Vicario from Serie A minnows Empoli. By the end of the day Wednesday, prominent Italian journalists were reporting that a verbal agreement had been reached for Vicario for a £17.2m fee, and Spurs fans’ minds were kind of blown.
Now, Gianluca DiMarzio is reporting that Spurs have submitted a formal bid, and pretty much all that’s left is the paperwork. The player has reached full agreement to join Spurs.
.@SpursOfficial have sent their written bid to @EmpoliFC for Guglielmo #Vicario's transfer. Now, paperwork and contracts to be signed. #THFC @SkySport
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) June 22, 2023
So I know that this came out of the blue for most Spurs fans, but the more I read about this guy the more I think Tottenham have found a real gem. Italian football watchers have been singing Vicario’s praises all season, with the Italian Football Podcast calling him “the best keeper in Serie A” back in April and expecting him to go to a giant club this summer for way, way more than €20m.
This transfer may have some knock-on effects, especially relating to Spurs acquiring homegrown talent, which seems to be a focus this summer. But any concerns about the homegrown numbers may be offset by the fact that they’re spending less than half of what Brentford were demanding for Raya.
Our founder, Kim McCauley, recently tweeted at me that this feels like an old-school Tottenham signing, and I can’t disagree.
this is like a 2010 Spurs signing, great value pickup overperforming on a meh team on the continent
— Kim McCauley (@kimischilling) June 21, 2023
Maybe I’m just drinking too much of the limoncello here. After all this is kind of what we thought we were getting with Pierluigi Gollini, and we all know how that turned out. That said, a) choose hope and b) there does seem to be a lot more excitement around Vicario than there ever was for Gollini. He really does appear to have a lot of hype. Now it’s a question as to whether he can make the leap to the Premier League. I sure hope so.
All that said, his nickname is apparently “Venom” and I’m sorry buddy but that’s not going to fly, you’re Googly-Elmo now, Googly-Elmo.
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