Tottenham Hotspur is close to signing Richarlison from Everton for a club-record fee in the region of £60 million.
It is expected that the Brazil international will sign a five-year contract with the club within the next 48 hours.
However, Spurs are expected to pay an initial fee of around £50 million, which could rise to around £10 million in add-ons.
Thursday morning’s talks were about performance-related bonuses, but the final deal is almost certain to exceed the £53.8 million Spurs paid Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele in 2019.
Richarlison’s former club Watford is entitled to receive 10% of any fee over £40 million as part of the agreement.
Frank Lampard, Everton’s manager, may be under some financial pressure to offload a star player in order to help fund the team’s rebuilding efforts.
Richarlison is expected to join Tottenham as the club’s newest acquisition in a busy summer of transfers. Image courtesy of Visionhaus/Getty
There was a dinner this week in Mayfair between the two chairman of the Tottenham Hotspurs and the chairman of Everton, Bill Kenwright.
Steven Bergwijn was offered as a possible makeweight by Tottenham, but Everton remained firm on a cash deal.
Richarlison scored 53 goals in 152 games for Everton and is expected to become Tottenham’s fourth summer signing after Ivan Perisic, Fraser Forster and Yves Bissouma.
Clement Lenglet, a defender on loan from Barcelona, is also a target for Tottenham.
Key negotiations are expected to take place in the next 24 hours, and the 27-year-old is expected to be a part of it, though it is not mandatory.
Only final elements remain to be finalized, including how much of Lenglet’s pay is paid by Spurs.
Conte, who Lenglet spoke to, helped persuade him to make the change. To make the World Cup squad for France, this year’s World Cup hopeful had reservations about playing in England’s top-tier Premier League.
Djed Spence, Tottenham’s target at fullback, is also on their wish list. Middlesbrough are in discussions, although no money has been agreed upon between the two teams.
–ESPN
