Tottenham Hotspur have seen their move to bring Pedro Porro to the Premier League collapse with less than 48 hours remaining of the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to David Ornstein, with the journalist revealing in his latest article for The Athletic that, despite Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici having agreed a €45m (£39.5m) deal with Sporting Lisbon for the transfer of the right-back, the Liga Portugal side have now reneged on the terms of the 23-year-old's proposed move to north London.
Subsequently, Fabrizio Romano revealed in a post on Twitter that talks between the two clubs will "continue today" in order to attempt to reestablish an agreement regarding the defender's fee.
In his post, the Italian transfer insider said: "Pedro Porro - Tottenham had medical tests booked today in order to complete the deal, agreed on Saturday as player said goodbye to the fans. Sporting changed details/conditions of the deal right before signing documents. Talks continue today to resolve the issues."
Forget Porro
While it is undeniable that Porro would represent a fantastic addition to Conte's current options on the right of his backline at Tottenham, should Sporting continue to mess Paratici around heading into the final 24 hours of the transfer window, it would appear wise for the Italian sporting director to turn his attention back towards a long-term target: Denzel Dumfries.
Indeed, reports from Italy earlier this month suggested that Conte views the Inter Milan full-back as a dream alternative to the Spain international, with Tottenham said to be planning to 'slingshot on Dumfries' if 'negotiations for Porro were to fail' this month - with the Serie A side believed to be willing to part with the 26-year-old for a fee of €40m (£35m).
And, considering how similar the two players are in an attacking capacity - with Conte known to prefer his wing-backs to be predominantly forward-thinking rather than defensively focused - the argument that Dumfries would be a dream alternative to the Sporting star is an extremely easy one to make.
Indeed, over his 33 Serie A appearances in 2021/22, the £35m-rated Dutchman was in fantastic attacking form, scoring five goals, providing five assists and creating six big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.2 shots, making 0.8 key passes and completing 0.4 crosses per game.
The £54k-per-week right-back has been in similarly fine form over his 18 league outings this season, having already hit the back of the net once, registered two assists and created eight big chances, as well as taking an average of 1.1 shots, making 1.1 key passes and completing 0.4 crosses per match.
In comparison, over Porro's 23 Liga Portugal appearances last season, the £22m-rated talent was also in eye-catching form going forwards, bagging four goals, providing four assists and creating 11 big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.6 shots, making two key passes and completing 1.8 crosses per game.
It has been a similar story over his 14 league fixtures this season, with the £10k-per-week Spaniard having already scored two goals, provided six assists and created eight big chances, as well as taking an average of 2.6 shots, making 2.4 key passes and completing 1.8 crosses per match.
As such, while it is true that Porro's returns slightly better those of Dumfries over the last 18 or so months, considering the fact that the Dutchman looks to be available for roughly £4.5m less than the Sporting star, should Paratici fail in his negotiations for the 23-year-old, the Inter defender who Micah Richards dubbed "breathless" would indeed appear a dream alternative.