The £85m question surrounding Savio

Talented young Brazilian wingers rarely come cheap, but the £85million ($116m) package Tottenham Hotspur agreed with Manchester City to sign Savio feels overinflated. The 22-year-old starred after joining City from Troyes in 2024, but then faded fast, recording just two goals across 53 league appearances for the club.

It was obvious to anyone watching Spurs' 3–0 opening-day loss at Brentford that they were in dire need of attacking reinforcements, but given Savio's meagre output, has that desperation allowed the market to take advantage?

The maths: a £45.3m premium

Whether Spurs have overpaid is tricky to answer, given there's no consensus on exactly how footballers should be valued — a complex equation of age, contract length, past performance, potential and marketability. Using Transfermarkt's crowd-sourced valuations, The Athletic compared the market and every negotiated fee since 2012. Transfermarkt lists Savio's purchase price as £75.4million, similar to the initial fee reported by The Athletic but short of the potential £85m package. On that basis, the fee represents a £45.3m premium on a player valued at £30.1m — the fifth-largest amount above market value in the dataset.

Enzo Fernandez's own move sits top of the pile (almost £60m over value in 2023), while Kepa Arrizabalaga and Marcas-state Antony are perhaps the biggest examples of extravaganza, both flopping at Chelsea and United respectively. By contrast, Virgil van Dijk's £72.8m move ranks as one of the all-time bargains. Savio is joined on the list by two deals from this window: Mateus Fernandes and Morgan Rogers. Notoriously, Erling Haaland leads the list of the best below-market-value deals — a planned release clause at Dortmund meant City got more expensive footballer for far less.

Value is in the eye of the beholder

In defence of Spurs, Transfermarkt's estimates rely on guesstimates and err on the side of caution, and roughly two-thirds of the fees examined were completed above the recorded value. A deal that looks like good value is no guarantee of success. Savio is, incidentally, the only player to appear on both lists — he had been considered a steal at £21.5m for City, and now he marks among the most overmore exorbitant.

Ultimately, the worth is subjective. There will be harder-to-measure factors at play here — whether that's his natural fit for De Zerbi's system or underlying data which suggests a far more devastating player is waiting to be unleashed. To a neutral onlooker, though, the fee weighed against his limited Premier League impact remains among the puzzle of recent memory.