Tottenham Hotspur’s move for Santos defender Souza will be used by the Brazilian club to fund salaries.
That’s according to GE Globo. They report that Tottenham’s announcement is imminent. The transfer is desperately needed to Santos resolve financial issues.
According to the newspaper, Santos’ board plans to use the money received from the sale of the full-back to keep their salaries up to date. The Brazilian club are struggling with financial problems and have a high payroll. That is particularly the case after renewing Neymar’s contract and the signing Gabigol
Tottenham will pay nearly R$95m for the full-back. That’s around €15m. Santos will receive 87.5% of that, around €13m. A deal was done with Spurs following a counterproposal from Santos.
They asked for €15m and have eventually received it, after Souza ceded ‘half of his own economic rights’ to facilitate the deal. That increased Santos’ revenue.
The Brazilian club will be happy with that as they need the money sooner rather than later. They’ll first use the money to pay salaries, before then potentially looking at additions themselves.
Tottenham funds needed for various reasons
Santos’ president Marcelo Teixeira had earlier said there’s also debts to be covered with the money from Tottenham: “The effort is always to balance the debts. We already paid R$ 130m in transfer bans in 2024, and others were avoided through agreements. Arouca didn’t even agree to talk to Santos, who even sent a representative to Portugal,” he said.
“It’s worth remembering that this [João Basso] debt, like all the others (debts) pending at FIFA, is not from our administration, but from previous administrations.”
The deal is in the final stages and an announcement is imminent. That’s been confirmed by the player himself after he shared a goodbye message to Santos.
Announcing the transfer before Tottenham have managed to do so themselves, Souza said: “After ten years defending this badge, the time has come to face a new challenge. The last year was intense, full of growth and overcoming obstacles, but even in the difficult moments, I felt the affection and support of the Santos fans.”
Now the actual Tottenham announcement will be imminent.
