Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on a deal to bring both Pedro Porro and Marcus Edwards to the Premier League in the January transfer window.
What's the talk?
That's according to a recent report by Portuguese publication Correio da Manha (via Sport Witness), who claim that Fabio Paratici is 'not far' from reaching a deal with Sporting Lisbon for both the right-back and attacking midfielder, with the Italian sporting director believed to be just €5m (£4.5m) away from activating the release clauses of the two players.
The report goes on to state that, with Ruben Amorim adamant that neither the 23-year-old defender nor the 24-year-old forward will leave the Estadio Jose Alvalade unless their release clauses are met - sitting at €45m (£40m) and €60m (£53m) respectively - Spurs are currently willing to offer €70m (£61m) for the duo, just €5m short of the €75m (£66m) required to land both players.
As for the reasoning why this €75m figure is considerably lower than the combined €105m release clauses of the pair, the Premier League club are believed to hold a 50% sell-on clause for Edwards, effectively halving the price Tottenham will have to pay in order to land the former England U20 international this winter.
"Unbelievable"
Considering just how impressive both Porro and Edwards have been in Portugal this season, coupled with Antonio Conte reported to be prioritising the signing of a new wing-back and forward in January, the argument that Paratici sealing a £66m deal for the Sporting duo would be an unbelievable coup for Spurs is an extremely easy on to make.
Indeed, over Porro's 12 Liga Portugal appearances in the current campaign, the £22m-rated talent has been in exceptional attacking form, having already scored one goal, provided five assists and created seven big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 2.5 shots, making 2.2 key passes and completing 0.9 dribbles per game.
These returns have seen the £10k-per-week defender who journalist Zach Lowy dubbed "special" average a simply sensational Sofascore match rating of 7.20, currently ranking him as Sporting's fourth-best performer in the league and the joint 20th-best player in the Portuguese top-flight as a whole.
Meanwhile, over Edwards' 15 Liga Portugal appearances this season, the £22m-rated trickster has been in similarly dazzling form going forwards, bagging five goals, providing four assists and creating four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.5 shots, making 1.6 key passes and completing 1.6 dribbles per game.
These metrics have seen the £23k-per-week attacker who Andy Lapthorne labelled "unreal" and Joe Prince-Wright claimed is "unbelievable" average a rather remarkable Sofascore match rating of 7.15, not only ranking him as Amorim's fifth-best performer in the division but also as the joint 27th-best player in the league as a whole.
As such, with both Porro and Edwards looking to be players who would greatly improve Conte's current options in their respective positions on the pitch, should Paratici manage to get a £66m deal over the line for the duo this month, it would indeed represent an unbelievable piece of business by the Italian sporting director.