Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur were involved in ‘intense negotiations’ for Emerson Royal’s transfer, according to Mundo Deportivo.
It’s claimed the operation was closed for €30m [€25m + €5m] and the La Liga side will ‘make the transfer official today’.
Although the right-back’s desire was to continue at the Camp Nou, the Catalan club ended up ‘accepting a succulent offer’ from Spurs, after convincing him his future is in the Premier League.
The north London club started negotiations with the 22-year-old after finding an agreement with Ronald Koeman’s side.
Emerson was one of the lowest paid players at the Spanish club and Tottenham have guaranteed to double his wages. Mundo say the two parties are yet to find an agreement.
Over at Sport, they say the Brazilian will leave Barca for Spurs in a ‘lightning operation’ that started over the weekend and ended in the last few hours.
Both clubs have reached an agreement for €25m fixed fee plus bonuses, and after this, Nuno Espírito Santo’s side started working on the complicated part of the operation; to convince the player.
Emerson was ‘very excited’ with the possibility of playing for Barcelona this season, but he and those around him ‘understood it was an irrefutable financial offer’, most likely from Spurs.
The 22-year-old will see his wages double for the next five seasons at Tottenham, where he will also be a starter.
Sport say that if there’s no last minute setback, the defender will give his OK and ‘everything will be documented’ to finalise his sale to the English club on deadline day.
