The emotional goodbye Pedro Porro waved to Sporting fans on Saturday was a premature one, with his proposed move to Tottenham all but collapsing on the penultimate day of the transfer window.
Spurs first identified the right wing-back as a target in the first half of the season, the 23-year-old impressing in the Champions League group stage matches between the two clubs in which Sporting took four points off Antonio Conte’s side.
However, after close to three weeks of negotiations, Sporting are understood to have pulled the plug on the transfer despite the player’s plans to travel to London on Monday to complete paperwork and undergo a medical. A deal was initially held up while he played in the weekend’s Taca da Liga final defeat to Porto, but it was previously accepted he would leave and be replaced with Barcelona’s Hector Bellerin, formerly of Spurs’ north London rivals Arsenal.
Talks over Porro had centred on a €45m (£39.5m) release clause, as Spurs had initially hoped to offer a staggered deal including add-ons. Sporting are notoriously tough negotiators and asked for the release clause to be paid in full, with additional reports suggesting who paid the administration fees was a further sticking point.
There has been further confusion surrounding the release clause, which is believed to have expired before the end of the January window. Had the clause still been active, Sporting president Frederico Varanda would not have been able to block Porro’s exit.
Manchester City also inserted a buy-back clause in his contract when they sold the full-back last year, though even with Joao Cancelo on the verge of a loan switch to Bayern Munich there is no indication they are intending to trigger it.
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Tottenham have not given up hope of thrashing out a deal before Tuesday’s deadline, especially as signing Porro would kickstart some of the other business deemed essential by Conte this January – including a loan for Djed Spence, who is wanted on a short-term basis by at least three Premier League clubs and who was left out of the squad for the FA Cup victory over Preston North End on Saturday.
How Porro talks collapsed
- January 2022: Antonio Conte first makes it known he is in the market for a new right-back, raising reservations about Emerson Royal’s form
- Summer 2022: Spurs prioritise a new right-back but are able to sign Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Fraser Forster, Destiny Udogie (loaned back to Serie A), Clement Lenglet and Ivan Perisic. Djed Spence is brought in at right-back after spending the 2021-22 season on loan at Nottingham Forest
- July 2022: Conte admits “the club decided to buy” Spence and publicly suggests he did not choose the full-back, who he is yet to start a game for the club
- September-October 2022: Porro impresses Tottenham officials, playing 90 minutes in both Sporting’s 2-0 win and the 1-1 draw between the two teams in the Champions League group stages
- December 2022: While the majority of senior players are away at the Qatar World Cup, Spurs prepare a January bid, identifying Porro as one of their chief targets for the winter window
- January 2023: Tottenham enter negotiations, initially reluctant to pay a £39.5m release clause and aware that the player wants to move to north London
- 19 January: Spurs plan a series of instalments and progress is being made, though Sporting would prefer the whole of the £39.5m up front
- 22 January: Talks are advancing after a fresh move and despite conflict over the fee, there is apparent agreement Porro will be a Tottenham player by the end of the month
- 28 January: Spurs believe they have a verbal agreement in place with Sporting and prepare for Porro to arrive at Hotspur Way on Monday 30 January
- 30 January: Deal off. The release clause is said to have expired and Sporting are now demanding in excess of the original £39.5m, refusing to allow Porro to leave
Without Porro, it would leave Conte with his existing options of Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty, neither of whom he has been convinced by. Talks over a new deal for Conte have stalled while he waited to see how active the club would be in January, and his current contract expires in June when he is widely expected to leave north London.
There is also uncertainty surrounding managing director Fabio Paratici, who hired Conte, after he was hit with a 30-month ban from football-related activity in Italy over alleged false accounting. It has not yet been confirmed whether his suspension will apply in England.
Daniel Levy would then continue to oversee transfer business this summer, though Spurs have also relied on agencies in the past. They are set to pursue a long-term replacement for Hugo Lloris and a new centre-back, with the versatile Piero Hincapie of Bayer Leverkusen a player of interest.
Loanee Arnaut Danjuma has been Tottenham’s only addition so far and with several of their long-term targets midfielders or forwards, there is no immediate alternative to Porro. Bryan Gil will be joining Sevilla on loan, having been overtaken by Danjuma in the pecking order despite impressing since the World Cup.
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