Tottenham embarrass themselves yet again as financial document delayed amid transfer ban latest
Tottenham are reportedly holding up the process regarding their payment for Souza after they signed him in January.
According to ESPN Brazil, the left-back’s former club Santos are still waiting for the Lilywhites to finalise the payment structure behind their deal to sign the youngster, and it looks set to have serious implications for them moving forward.
Souza recently made his Premier League debut for the North London outfit when he came on for the final 35 minutes of the defeat to Manchester United earlier in February, but has yet to play a big role for his new club.
The finer details of the deal to bring him to England are still not yet fully resolved, in what is yet another embarrassing development for Tottenham amid what has been a truly dismal campaign.
Tottenham preventing Santos from lifting transfer ban
Tottenham paid a fee of around £13million to sign Souza during the recent winter window, but the exact structure of how that sum would be paid wasn’t finalised between the two clubs.
That has now come back to bite Santos, who are currently dealing with a transfer fan as a result of delayed payments in their deal to sign Joao Basso from Portuguese side Arouca.
The Brazilian outfit must raise £2.3m before that ban can be lifted, but Spurs’ lack of organisation is preventing them from doing that at the moment.
The Lilywhites need to release a financial document to Santos so that they can access part of the £13m fee that they are due, but they are still waiting for the Premier League giants to hold up their end of the bargain.
Tottenham are not suffering from the delay at their end, but as one of the world’s biggest and most recognisable football clubs, it is simply embarrassing to see them causing issues for another club essentially through poor organisation.
Santos are currently unable to register players due to Spurs dragging their heels, which is not a good look for them by any means, and could equally be rather concerning for them, given the latest suggestions surrounding their finances.
Keith Wyness outlines ‘life and death’ situation with Spurs’ finances
Former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness told Football Insider last week that it is “vital” that Spurs act as quickly as possible to ensure they insert relegation wage cut clauses into their players’ contracts.
Recent reports have suggested that the Lilywhites are at risk of losing several of their most prominent sponsorship deals ahead of next season, regardless of whether they are ultimately able to preserve their Premier League status.
Wyness feels that the club could even be put into a “life and death” situation if they dropped into the Championship, and ended up still paying their squad in line with their current deals.
It has quickly become clear that Tottenham are facing a very difficult situation behind the scenes at the moment, and it is one which is completely degrading, given their aspirations to compete for trophies domestically and in Europe.
The current issues with Santos only add to that debacle, and it is a pretty damning indication of the mess that they are in at the moment.
For more information on Spurs’ perilous financial situation, check out all the latest expert financial analysis over on Tottenham News.