Tottenham Hotspur could follow up their £51million deal for Xavi Simons by launching an ambitious transfer deadline day move for Manchester City winger Savinho. If Thomas Frank's side did push through their interest in the Brazilian winger, they would have the perfect shirt number for him.
The north Londoners have been heavily linked with a move for the 21-year-old, who was injured for City's 2-1 away defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion and their prior 2-0 loss at home to Tottenham. Earlier reports have claimed the winger is worried a move to Tottenham could collapse, leaving him competing with Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Oscar Bobb, Rayan Cherki and Omar Marmoush at City. Spurs were understood to be willing to launch a £65m move for the versatile winger, but with Cherki being ruled out for at least two months, a move could be difficult. If Tottenham were able to wrap up an astonishing swoop, they could provide Savinho with the ideal welcome gift.
Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT
They could hand him the No. 26 shirt he sports at City. Had a move been secured around a fortnigtht earlier, Spurs could have given him the No. 7, a number he briefly wore while he was at PSV Eindhoven U21s. However, Simons claimed the No. 7 shirt when he was unveiled last week. Shirt numbers may not be on Savinho's mind as his hopes of moving to north London appear to be on the brink.
TBR Football claimed Savinho was interested in a move to north London, with talks over a move between the two clubs initially looking promising. It has also been claimed any potential transfer was hingeing on City signing Real Madrid winger Rodrygo, who has fallen out of favour with Xabi Alonso at the Bernabeu.
With no move between City and the La Liga heavyweights appearing to be on the horizon, Savinho may have to stay put. Last week, reports from ESPN claimed City have informed Tottenham that Savinho, who is yet to feature in the new Premier League campaign due to a pre-season injury, is not for sale.
This situation may have only been cemented by the injury of summer signing Cherki. In his post-match press conference after losing 2-1 away to Brighton, Guardiola said the Frenchman is set to miss around two months due to a torn left quadricep.
He has already been replaced by in-form Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike in the French international squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Iceland. When asked if City's loss to the Seagulls or the injury to Cherki may force a late flurry on transfer deadline aay, Guardiola simply replied: "No."
City sit in 13th following their back-to-back losses. Tottenham, meanwhile, failed to build on their impressive showing over Guardiola's men in a limp home loss to Bournemouth.
Despite having more possession, Spurs were lucky the final score was only 1-0, as the Cherries had 20 efforts on goal and were only thwarted by an impressive showing from goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.