Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a deal to bring Marcus Edwards back to north London in the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to a report by Portuguese publication Record, who claim that Fabio Paratici and Antonio Conte are keeping a very close eye on the situation of the Sporting Lisbon forward ahead of launching a potential move for the 23-year-old this winter.
And, in an interview with the Evening Standard back in October, the former Spurs academy starlet revealed that he would be open to a return to the Premier League in the future, something that could tempt Paratici into activating the winger's reported £52m release clause in January.
However, with Daniel Levy forgoing the 50% sell-on fee he negotiated in the attacker's move to Vitória de Guimarães when Edwards joined Sporting in a £9m move this summer, Spurs would only be required to pay the Liga Portugal side £26m in order to activate his release clause.
Paratici must move
Considering just how impressive Edwards has been for Sporting this season, particularly against Tottenham in the Champions League, it is easy to see why Paratici would be interested in a move to bring the 23-year-old back to north London this winter.
Indeed, over his 12 Liga Portugal appearances this season - only eight of which have come as starts - the £22m-rated talent has been in astonishing attacking form, scoring five goals, registering three assists and creating three big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.5 shots, making 1.8 key passes and completing 2.0 dribbles per game.
These returns have seen the winger who Jeffry Fortes claimed is of a "bizarre level" average a simply sensational SofaScore match rating of 7.28, not only ranking him as Rúben Amorim's third-best performer in the league but also as the joint 12th-best performer in the Portuguese top flight as a whole.
The £22k-per-week starlet also caught the eye over his six outings in the Champions League, bagging two goals - one of which was a spectacular solo strike against Spurs - providing two assists and creating two big chances, as well as taking an average of 1.2 shots, making one key pass and completing 1.7 dribbles per match.
These returns saw the player who Jay Jaffa claimed made Eric Dier "look very stupid" in that aforementioned clash with his former employers, average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.02, ranking him as Sporting's second-best player to feature in Europe's most prestigious club competition.
As such, considering how exciting a talent Edwards undoubtedly is, Paratici simply must amend Levy's initial mistake of letting the 23-year-old go by sanctioning a swoop for the playmaker this winter - especially as Tottenham can essentially land the attacker in a half-price deal.