Last season Wolves acquired the services of Porto FC Portuguese midfielder Vítor Machado Ferreira also known as Vitinha, from FC Porto on a season-long loan. In that loan contract, an offer to purchase the player for €20 million was included. However, if the Wolves had the opinion that the player had shown them enough to deserve that transfer. Nuno Espirito Santo, the manager of Wolves last season, is now the manager of Tottenham, and he is trying to hijack the transfer of the player.
Tottenham to steal from Wolves
According to the Portuguese soccer website Mercado, Wolves have been dithering concerning exercising the purchase option on the player's loan contract. And hence, Tottenham has been given the option to purchase the player ahead of Wolves. The only stipulation on that agreement would be that Tottenham would have to match Wolves' offer to purchase the player. Nuno Espirito Santo will have to convince the Tottenham Hotspur moneymen to intercept the agreement that Wolves has with FC Porto for Tottenham to sign Vitinha on a permanent contract.
Vitinha made 22 appearances for Wolves last season, during which he scored one goal. Despite the tardiness, Wolves are still within their rights to exercise the option to purchase, but they may need to move more quickly. Mercado has also reported that Tottenham has made a counter-offer to capture the midfielder from FC Porto.
Transfer to Tottenham more advantageous for the player
The new manager of the Spurs, Nuno, who was recently announced as the successor to Jose Mourinho at Tottenham, has already begun working with managingctor Fabio Paratici on strengthening the club's squad. In his playing days, Nuno Espirito Santo was the first client of agent Jorge Mendes. They, therefore, have an excellent working relationship as manager and agent in the present day.
The transfer to Tottenham may be advantageous for Vitinha's growth as not only will he be familiar with the manager that he played for last season, but he will be playing with a perceived better quality of player. With Porto having been in breach of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations in previous years, they are desperate to sell players who have graduated from their school of excellence for them to maintain financial stability.
Wolves cannot afford to dither
If Wolves decide not to purchase the player, he will have a very viable option to follow his previous manager to Tottenham. Although Tottenham is fighting tooth and nail to retain Harry Kane, they also seem to be prioritising the strengthening of their midfield. In this regard, they are closely monitoring Real Madrid's Isco, who, with Son Heung-min and potentially also Vitinha, could see Tottenham becoming a force again for the new season.
By :
Steven D. Thompson
