Tottenham midfielder Victor Wanyama has agreed personal terms over a move to Club Brugge, according to Football Insider.
They had claimed earlier that Spurs had accepted a £9m bid that could rise to £12m with add-ons, and that they had given Wanyama permission to talk to the Belgian club.
The 28-year-old has now reportedly agreed a £50k-a-week deal, lower than his £65k-a-week salary at Tottenham, and FI claim the deal could be done within 48 hours.
Club Brugge play the second leg of their Champions League play-off clash on Wednesday and hold a 1-0 lead over LASK.
Good deal for Brugge?
Wanyama joined Spurs from Southampton for a fee close to £13m in 2016 and had an impressive first season, making 36 Premier League appearances, scoring in his second game and striking up an impressive partnership with Mousa Dembele.
He missed the first half of the next season through injury and only made 18 Premier League appearances and it was a similar story in the 18/19 campaign, where he only made 13 Premier League appearances.
According to Danny Murphy, though, Brugge have got a “very, very good player”.
Talking on the Jim White Show on Monday morning (talkSPORT, 10am) Murphy said, “He’s a very, very good player… He is exactly what you need when you’re struggling.
“I’m surprised Tottenham didn’t use him more. Him and Dembele had a brilliant partnership.”
The deal works for Tottenham as well who could recoup almost the full fee they paid for a player who was unlikely to play much first-team football this season. He’s behind Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko and Eric Dier in the Spurs midfield pecking order.
Unnecessary from Poch?
Pochettino is a frank talker and he didn’t pull any punches when he was talking about Wanyama ahead of the weekend game against Newcastle.
As quoted in the Mirror he said, “In the case of Victor, he suffered an injury and another player stepped up and took his place. We are in a team, we are not a charity.
“Victor is a very important player and, for different circumstances, went backwards. That is the evolution of football and things like that happen naturally at all clubs.”
Honesty is usually the best policy but cutting a bit of slack for a departing player would be a good use of diplomacy.
Wanyama himself has taken a pay-cut to join Brugge and it’s refreshing to see a player who wants to play more than he cares about his pay packet.