Crystal Palace overtake Tottenham in race for Brazilian who has a £70m release clause

6 hours ago 30

Tottenham Hotspur are no longer the front-runners to sign an exiting South American starlet who they have been tracking for several months.

Regular readers of Spurs Web will be aware that there have been plenty of reports over the last few months suggesting that Spurs have been scouting a 19-year-old wide-forward, who is turning a lot of heads in Brazilian football.

Sources from Brazil have suggested that Tottenham have allegedly explored getting a work permit for Vasco Da Gama starlet Rayan ahead of the January window.

The youngster is expected to be the next big export from the South American country to Europe, but the Lilywhites sustained a blow a couple of days ago when it emerged that Rayan signed a contract extension with Vasco Da Gama.

Crystal Palace overtake Tottenham in the race for Rayan

ESPN Brazil have now revealed that Spurs have been joined in the race for the teenager by London rivals Crystal Palace.

It is claimed that Palace have moved to the front of the queue after contacting Rayan and his representatives over a transfer to Selhurst Park and are now assessing whether to formalise their interest.

The Eagles will only be able to land the forward next summer, but they want to structure the deal in advance.

Oliver Glasner’s men are hoping they can tie up a deal in January to steal a march on other clubs and start planning around Rayan’s development.

How much would Spurs have to pay for Rayan?

According to reports, Rayan’s release clause in his new contract is worth £70m, and the high value has been put in place by Vasco to strengthen their negotiating position.

However, it was previously claimed by O Globo that Vasco would be willing to sell Rayan for €25m to €30m (£21.8m-£26m).

It will be interesting to see whether Palace’s approach for the Brazilian jolts the North London club into accelerating their pursuit of the young forward.