Italian media deliver interesting verdict on latest Emerson Royal display after his £15.2m move from Tottenham
Tottenham have struggled when it comes to selling players in recent times.
A £25m signing in Ryan Sessegnon was released at the end of last season, as was Tanguy Ndombele – who cost £63m in a 2019 move from Lyon.
Bryan Gil and Giovani Lo Celso – signed for a combined fee of roughly £50m – have also just been discarded, with the Argentine joining Real Betis for only £3.3m while the Spaniard can sign for Girona after his loan for £13m.
Now – however – comments from the Italian media suggest Tottenham actually did quite well in selling one player this summer…
Italian media react as Emerson Royal struggles on full debut for AC Milan
In case you missed it, AC Milan signed Emerson Royal in an €18m (£15.2m) move from Tottenham back in August.
It was a deal which still saw Spurs suffer a £10.6m loss on the initial £25.8m spent to sign the Brazil international from Barcelona back in September 2021 – but by the sounds of it, a sum of £15.2m is looking like a decent sale from the north Londoners.
Emerson Royal was handed his first official start by Paulo Fonseca in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Lazio, but the South American has now been the subject of some brutal comments from Gazzetta dello Sport.
The Italian news outlet described the Brazilian as ‘one of the worst players on the pitch’ inside the Stadio Olimpico, as two goals in four minutes threatened to see Lazio fight back from 1-0 down to secure a 2-1 win, but for Rafael Leao’s equaliser.
Emerson was eventually withdrawn by Fonseca in the 70th minute – four minutes after Lazio took the lead – with SofaScore showing that the new AC Milan No.22 lost possession on four occasions, made one foul, delivered zero crosses and also completed zero dribbles.
Great business from Tottenham
We have no idea why AC Milan decided to spend £15.2m on the right-back.
Some may recall that Barcelona were shocked when Tottenham opted to pay £25.8m for Emerson back in September 2021 – as were we – and despite three difficult years in north London, a club the size of AC Milan felt they could get something better out of the man from Sao Paulo.
There is, of course, still plenty of time for the 25-year-old to become a success at the San Siro, but after his latest outing against Lazio, Spurs fans will surely be delighted to receive over £15m from the struggling Brazilian’s departure.
