Tottenham's lavish rebuild under Roberto De Zerbi is motoring ahead as the transfer deadline approaches.
A shambolic 3-0 defeat at Brentford on the opening weekend of the Premier League season shows there is still plenty of work required after Spurs seek to emerge from two dreadful domestic campaigns in which they have flirted with the relegation zone.
On Monday, Savinho's long-mooted move from Manchester City was completed.
Tottenham's interest in the Brazil winger predates De Zerbi's reign by almost a year, despite the fact that he only scored two Premier League goals in two seasons at the Etihad Stadium.
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Across all competitions, Savinho scored seven times in 84 appearances, supplying 16 assists and contributing to last season's FA Cup and Carabao Cup wins. He was an unused substitute in both Wembley finals.
After moving to Spurs, the player announced he would like to revert to being called Savio. It would certainly be underwhelming if he wished to leave an underwhelming couple of years at City behind him.
How much did Tottenham pay for Savinho?
Tottenham agreed an £85 million ($115.9m/€99.3m) deal with Manchester City to buy Savio. He is City's record sale, surpassing the £81.5m that Atletico Madrid paid for Julian Alvarez in 2024.
The transfer is broken down into an initial £75m (£102m/€87.6m) with the remainder in potential add-ons. According to The Athletic, £5m of the bonuses are viewed as "highly achievable".
Why did Tottenham spend so much on Savinho?
Tottenham's interest in Savio dates back to last summer, when City refused to sanction a move for the winger.
It has not been a happy time for the 22-year-old since then. Antoine Semenyo's January arrival from Bournemouth and the Ghana international's superb record in front of goal since then meant limited meaningful first-team opportunities for Savio.
As a consequence, he missed out on a place in Brazil's World Cup squad. It was still not a given that City would let Savio go, given the paucity of high-class wingers on the market this summer and Enzo Maresca's desire to place a tactical emphasis on his attacking wide men.
Maresca noted last week that "since day one" of his tenure, Savio has wanted to leave, and this element, along with the eyebrow-raising amount of money Tottenham were willing to put on the table, has been decisive.
It is worth noting that wingers maturing in terms of offering greater consistency and output is not an exact science. Jeremy Doku's notable leap forward at City last season was ultimately bad news for Savio in Manchester but perhaps provides a template for him in north London.
The eye test shows a highly gifted and almost impulsive dribbler, a player to bring fans to the edge of their seats. After that point, they tend to slump back, frustrated by Savio's lack of end product.
Beneath those underwhelming top-line numbers lurks a player comfortable playing on both flanks and using either foot, something that makes him difficult to defend one-against-one. In his more productive 2024/25 season at City, he provided eight open-play assists in the Premier League, the bulk of them coming in a mid-season flurry when his link-up with Erling Haaland impressed.
That looked like a decent platform upon which to build following a breakout 2023/24 campaign in La Liga with Girona. Last term went awry, but that has not shaken Tottenham's faith in his potential, while Roberto De Zerbi's style of play should provide a more natural fit than Thomas Frank's might have done.
How much did Man City pay for Savinho?
Savio joined City from French club Troyes for £30.8m in summer 2024, after an impressive season on loan at Girona.
Both Troyes and Girona are part of City Football Group, the umbrella company that owns Manchester City and has stakes in 12 clubs across five continents.
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Who is replacing Savinho at Man City?
City are reportedly closing in on a like-for-like replacement, insofar as Allan Elias is a 22-year-old Brazilian winger.
He's also not especially prolific, with nine goals and 12 assists in 96 appearances for Palmeiras, who are in line to net in the region of €40m from City, as per The Athletic.
Allan was a late bloomer for his boyhood club, only making his senior debut in January 2025 aged 21. However, that means he bucks the trend of several Brazilian attackers who have made the move to Europe as teenagers over recent years, with mixed results.
Four goals and three assists in 21 Serie A matches in the 2026 season shows his output is gently trending in the right direction, and his application to the defensive side of his game is impressive. He has even been deployed as a wing-back at times.
Allan's tireless and tenacious work out of possession is likely a key part of his appeal to City, with that aspect of their collective armoury notably less effective during Pep Guardiola's final two seasons at the helm.
