Romano: Royal to AC Milan done. Maybe.

Emerson Royal to AC Milan, the Transfer Saga™ that just keeps on giving, may be finally coming to a close. Fabrizio Romano has finally given the transfer his official “Here We Go”:

Several other journos have also picked it up now, including Daniele Longo and Ben Jacobs. After what feels like months of negotiations, it appears Tottenham Hotspur and AC Milan have agreed to a base fee of €15 million, which… hey! That’s precisely the halfway mark between Spurs’ €20 million asking price and Milan’s initial €10 million bid! We could have sorted this weeks ago!

Apparently, it’s the performance escalators that have been the final piece of the puzzle, with some reports saying the performance-based clauses in Milan’s initial proposal were ridiculous. Whatever they are, it appears they will be around the €2-3 million mark, and are now more palatable to Spurs, resulting in a total fee close to €18 million.

Alasdair Gold, ever conservative, has said that things aren’t actually quite done yet (which knowing him just means they haven’t officially signed on the dotted line), and Ben Jacobs (who we referenced in a piece yesterday) has said that the deal is done, but only after a bit of internal debate at AC Milan. Reportedly, not all parties at the club were keen on Royal, doubting his fit for a more attacking coach like Fonseca, which… yeah, makes sense. He could also just be covering his butt after saying that the deal was looking less likely yesterday.

Look, I’ve wrote enough on this already. This is I think my SIXTH piece on this transfer this summer; that’s not including the ones Dustin and the other members of the masthead may have written. I hope it’s almost over, and I wish our comp king luck for the future when / if it happens.