Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement with Manchester City for Savinho in a deal which could rise to £85m.
Spurs will pay £75m plus £10m in add-ons – many of which are seen as achievable from the player’s side – taking the club’s summer spending past the £300m mark.
That shatters the previous record of £160m forked out in the summer of 2024 on players including Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray and Wilson Odobert.
The extraordinary outlay has raised eyebrows at other clubs – not least because Spurs finished 17th in each of the past two seasons and have missed out on Europe altogether this time around.
Omar Marmoush is now expected to follow Savinho’s route from City. The i Paper understands Marmoush is expected to sign a contract until 2031, and his fee will be closer to £55m. That would mean Manchester City would avoid having to pay Frankfurt a 15 per cent sell-on fee, which only applies if he is sold for more than the £63.4m they originally paid for him.
That will not necessarily be the end of Roberto De Zerbi’s overhaul – he demanded sweeping changes after taking over in March and keeping Spurs up on the final day – but it will signal that all Spurs’ priorities have been ticked off over the course of the summer.
A combined £185m was spent on Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes in midfield, £52m on centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke, and Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka coming in on free transfers.
That is not quite the eye-watering amount of money it appears. Tottenham have raised over £100m organically through the sales of Cristian Romero, Djed Spence and Luka Vuskovic. All three wanted to go and while Spence could have gone for more had he stayed in England – there was some surprise Everton did not push harder given their need of a right-back – £25m was felt to be an acceptable fee for him to move to Serie A, which is not awash with the conspicuous consumption of the Premier League.
Tottenham are the ninth richest club in the world and have boosted the coffers with non-football events – from boxing and NFL to Beyonce, Guns N’ Roses, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gorillaz concerts.
Make no mistake – there would not have been such a drastic change in direction had they not come so close to the brink in May. But Daniel Levy’s departure has seen Vinai Venkatesham pivot to a more urgent approach, with the chief executive and Johan Lange still overseeing transfers despite reports of a restructure at the start of the summer. The search for a second sporting director to replace Fabio Paratici is ongoing.
Owners Enic recently injected a further £100m into the club and Spurs have also agreed an advance with Macquarie Bank on TV revenues from December 2026 to June 2027 – a practice which is becoming fairly standard across the Premier League. Last season alone it gave them a £90m boost and frees up even more funds to be spent on transfer fees and increasing wages, which has been another priority.
Despite reports there has been no confirmation of a new naming rights deal for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but there is the potential for a further fillip there down the road. It is estimated the front-of-shirt sponsorship value has dipped by as much as £20m because of Spurs’ form last season.
They are not dependent on that – they are nowhere near breaking the threshold for the Premier League’s new financial rules (known as squad cost ratio). That’s worked out as a percentage of income, and Tottenham have one of the largest incomes in the league – hence why they are able to outspend clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa, even when they are underperforming.
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Squad cost ratio is calculated over a three-year period and fees like Tonali’s £80m which look staggering on paper can be amortised, or broken down, over several years of the contract.
Crucially, there is also expected to be further money coming in before the window shuts. Pape Matar Sarr is exploring the possibility of a move away and there has been interest in Richarlison – who would only be able to leave if Marmoush is signed as a replacement. Bids for Lucas Bergvall have been rejected but he is still being monitored by a number of Premier League clubs.
A decision will be made on a potential loan for Mikey Moore, who spent last season at Rangers, as any departure was dependent on Savinho’s arrival.