Spurs close on Sandro

Sandro: Rising star

Related links

Teams

• Tottenham Hotspur

Also see

• Spurs fixtures
• Spurs stats
• Spurs forum

Tottenham are close to making their first signing of the January transfer window having agreed personal terms in principle with Internacional midfielder Sandro.

The 20-year-old Brazilian will cost the North London outfit in the region of £6million, with Spurs expected to fund the purchase with the sale of misfit striker Roman Pavlyuchenko to Zenit St Petersburg.

Tottenham enjoy a strategic and sporting partnership with Internacional and are believed to have first option on the club's players. Sandro has long-since been on their transfer radar, with Harry Redknapp having earmarked central midfield as a position that needs strengthening.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has met with Internacional president Vittorio Piffero to discuss the move, with the player's lawyer Luiz Paulo Chignall confident a deal is close to being done.

"We have now agreed all of Sandro's personal terms - his salary, the length of his contract and so on, although nothing can yet be signed," said Luiz Paulo Chignall in The Guardian.

"Sandro is happy and ready to join Tottenham. We liked the offer. All that remains is for Tottenham and Inter to finalise the small details, including the transfer fee. I know that Daniel Levy is speaking to Vittorio Piffero."

Redknapp is hopeful of having the player at his disposal imminently but is leaving the negotiations to Levy.

Key talks

He added: "Whether it happens or not, I'm not sure. He has been speaking to the people there [at Internacional] and I know that he spoke to them again last week."

A move could, though, be blocked as Sandro currently falls short of the number of international appearances required to be granted a work permit in the United Kingdom. He has won just a solitary cap to date for Brazil.

Another potential issue is third-party ownership, with Internacional holding only 70 per cent of his economic rights, with the remaining 30 per cent held by a third party.

Chignall does not envisage too many problems and is confident that the deal to take his client to White Hart Lane will still go ahead.

"Third-party ownership is very common in Brazil," he said. "Transfer fees are paid to the club and then they have to settle up with the third parties."