Saturday, August 29, 2009

Spurs sign developmental contract with Internacional to help Sandro bid

Tottenham have been linked with a slew of physical box-to-box midfielders this offseason, from Sulley Muntari (rejected a move) to Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse wanted £25 million for him) to Harry Redknapp's latest infatuation, 20-year-old Brazilian Sandro, who has yet to make an international appearance but has been called up for World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Chile next month.

Daniel Levy and other Spurs executives have reportedly been in Brazil at some point over the last week, trying to tie up the transfer of the £26 million rated player, but a £14 million bid was rejected.

Spurs' chances of completing the transfer, however, received a boost Friday when Internacional and Tottenham announced a developmental agreement between the two clubs similar in nature to Tottenham's agreement with MLS' San Jose Earthquakes and South Africa's Supersport United. Internacional have a long history of developing excellent talent, as players such as Pato, Lucio, Luis Adriano and Daniel Carvalho began with the club. This agreement seems to indicate a strong working agreement between the two clubs, hopefully leading to the transfer of Sandro, with Levy's next bid reportedly weighing in at £16 million.

The only issue with Sandro is that Spurs already have a very similar player manning their midfield with Wilson Palacios, and Tom Huddlestone has given Tottenham an enhanced threat from the midfield plus the physical presence that has been so integral to Spurs' success this season. Levy won't pay that much money for a player who isn't playing week in and week out, so the Brazilian U-20 captain would need to be able to make an immediate impact on the squad. Hopefully Sandro can do that, both offensively and defensively, because much of the flair that Luka Modric and Aaron Lennon have shown this season can be attributed to Huddlestone's outlet passes. If Sandro were to quickly step in for Huddlestone, the message sent to the rest of the team will be an extremely pathetic one.

This would be an excellent deal, but it would mean that Redknapp needs to manage the team carefully for the rest of the season, something that he has done very well so far.

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