Deal agreed: €15m+ signing to bolster key position

AC Milan have reportedly agreed a deal with Tottenham worth over €15m for the signing of Emerson Royal.

The 25-year-old joined Spurs in 2021 after previous stints at Real Betis and Barcelona, and has gone on to make 101 appearances for the club, scoring four goals and providing two assists to go with his defensive duties.

However, he’s now set to begin a new chapter in his career, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that the Rossoneri have agreed a deal worth in excess of €15m with Tottenham to bring the Brazilian right-back to San Siro.

Personal terms are already agreed he adds, while Emerson will travel imminently to complete the formalities of the transfer and be officially announced as a Milan player.

It’s a transfer swoop that will no doubt spark mixed reactions, as it’s ultimately a pretty underwhelming move given Emerson hasn’t really entirely convinced during his time with the Premier League side.

Conversely, given Milan’s drawn-out pursuit of him this summer, it’s clear that the recruitment team and Paulo Fonseca believe that he can be an important addition to the squad, and will hopefully be a very effective presence in the line-up to suit the Portuguese tactician’s system and style of play.

Further, we’ve certainly needed to strengthen our options in that role for some time now to provide competition for Davide Calabria, and subsequently it could allow Pierre Kalulu to operate as a centre-half rather than having to shift across to cover.

In turn, it does make sense in some ways, but time will tell if it ultimately proves to be the right solution, with Emerson no doubt having to prove himself of being capable to play such an important role for us moving forward.

Following the signings of Alvaro Morata and Strahinja Pavlovic this summer, it is another key issue addressed in the current squad though, and so it’s hoped that these decisions are making us stronger collectively, and that our new recruits are able to flourish under Fonseca as he continues to implement his ideas and mould the squad into his own.