Earlier this week, Tottenham Hotspur completed the signing of Conor Gallagher from Atlético Madrid. They can soon add Santos’ Souza to Thomas Frank’s squad in the winter market.
The Europa League winners offered €15m for the left-back, after Santos rejected their initial €10m bid. That was enough to seal an agreement.
Souza is keen on a move to the north London club and rejected the Brazilian club’s late attempt to renew his contract.
On Monday, AS journalist Eduardo Burgos stated Tottenham reached a full agreement with Santos at the weekend. He also said the 19-year-old was travelling to London for his Spurs medical.
Santos don’t hold 100% of his rights as a percentage is held by the player himself. Three days ago, the Brazilian media reported he’s giving up his rights to help secure a move to the Premier League side. UOL even indicated his club have taken his exit for granted, and already moved on.
ESPN Brasil now picks up on that and treats the fullback’s sale to Tottenham as done.
The South American club will receive €15m from this operation and the report details how they plan on spending it: ‘This money is seen as essential to pay creditors and ward off the possibility of further sanctions from FIFA.’
Santos’ João Basso was on loan at GD Estoril Praia in 2024 and the Portuguese club filed a lawsuit against them.
Tottenham money being spent on outstanding debt
According to ESPN, Santos will use the money from Tottenham to settle the debt with Estoril. This is around €2.63m, and they need to pay this before 45-day deadline to avoid a transfer ban.
Santos president Marcelo Teixeira has also confirmed this to ESPN.
“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.”
Not the most exciting use of the Tottenham money, then.
