Tottenham and Thomas Frank are hoping to put the finishing touches on the £13million transfer for the teenage Santos left-back
Tottenham are hoping to put the final touches on the £13million deal to sign Santos left-back Souza as paperwork must be completed for his move.
In a busy week at the club, Spurs signed Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid in a £34.7million deal and on Wednesday 19-year-old Souza landed to undergo his medical with the club and go through the formalities of his side of the switch from Santos to link up with Thomas Frank's side.
The young Brazilian is understood have completed his medical but the move was always likely to take longer to go through than Gallagher's transfer due to various paperwork being required for his move from South America.
Media in his home country have said that Santos did not hold 100 per cent of his rights with a percentage owned by the player himself which he reportedly signed over to the Brazilian side in order to secure the move. The Premier League does not allow third party ownership of player's registration rights with 100% required to be owned by the club.
Tottenham must also ensure that the teenager gets his work permit in order through the UK government and their stringent points system. Santos president Marcelo Teixeira has already confirmed that the money from the sale of the defender will be used to settle some debts the Brazilian club have to avoid a transfer ban.
There is a chance that Souza's move may not be confirmed until after the weekend but the defender was always unlikely to be included in the squad for Saturday's game against West Ham as the Brazilian season finished a month ago and he will be looking to increase his fitness at Hotspur Way once his move goes through.
South American football expert Tim Vickery believes Souza has all the attributes to shine in the Premier League and is on the radar of Brazil boss Carlo Ancelotti.
"Terrific business. I like him very much. He's a good left-back. Physically strong, skilful, a good footballer. He can defend, he can attack," Vickery said on talkSPORT.
"He's come through his first season which has been really difficult because Santos were fighting against relegation and it's a tough ask at Santos, because you've got all of that history and tradition of Pele but it's a club that represents a relatively small city in Brazil. They're really up against it but you've got all the demands, so it's a tough support base to play in front of and he's done really, really well.
"He obviously wants the move and Tottenham came in with eight million (initially), not nearly enough. Santos were relishing a little bit of an auction for him to push the price up. It seems he wants Tottenham and I would be very happy to see him come in. Maybe not immediately straight away but he's on Ancelotti's radar as a left-back for Brazil so I think he's very, very promising indeed."