Journalist reveals Tottenham want more than £26m to sell player 

The Sun’s Tom Barclay has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur would only consider selling Emerson Royal if they can make a significant profit on the £26m they paid to sign the right-back two and a half years ago.

Emerson has proven his worth to the Tottenham side over the last few months, filling in competently at both centre-back and left-back when the Lilywhites were going through an injury crisis.

It thus did not come as a surprise when it emerged last week that Tottenham had turned down a €25m (£21.4m) offer from Al-Nassr for the former Real Betis star, with the Lilywhites thought to have considered the offer to be ‘derisory’ (The Standard).

When Ange Postecoglou was asked about a rejected offer for Emerson, he made it clear in Thursday’s press conference that he sees the Brazilian as a vital part of his plans (Football.London).

It has emerged over the last couple of days that Al-Nassr have accepted defeat in their pursuit of the Tottenham man and turned their attention to other alternatives instead (The Telegraph).

Spurs want to make a profit on Emerson Royal

Barclay has now shed more light on how highly Emerson is valued at Tottenham, explaining that the club believe that his market value has gone up since the time they signed him.

The journalist said on The Tottenham Way podcast: “Emerson as Ange Postecoglou has already said is one of the best trainers at the club, lots of commitment, he’s proved himself to be versatile, being able to play all across the back four.

“I think quite a few Spurs fans were surprised with the story on Sunday that Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s club, had had a bid rejected of what I understand to be about £20m given that Emerson’s not always been let’s say Spurs fans favourite player.

“But from Spurs point of view from what I understand is they signed him for £26m back in 2021, they see him as an established Premier League player who’s obviously got 10 Brazil caps, so they think he’s worth more than what they paid for him and if anything quite a lot more than they paid for him.

“I don’t know if the Saudi element comes into it, perhaps there’s a Saudi tax on players going that way because everyone knows they’re flush with cash. But, it’s also the fact that they don’t feel like they need to get rid of him and it would cause them a bit of a headache to go and replace him.

“And from the player’s point of view, I’m led to believe that he’s pretty happy at Tottenham, likes it there, but then again, he won’t be first choice, so you can see why it might be a bit of a quandary for him.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Tottenham were never going to consider letting Emerson leave mid-season unless they received an offer that was too good to refuse. However, Spurs may soften their stance on the right-back next summer as they continue their rebuild.