Tottenham transfer to be announced ‘today’ as second move of rare kind agreed for star with 15 goal contributions
Ivan Perisic is about to leave Tottenham
Sources in Italy are predicting that it will be announced today that Ivan Perisic is leaving Tottenham Hotspur for Hajduk Split, despite currently being injured.
Perisic last played for Tottenham in September, but has been on the sidelines since due to a serious ligament injury. Nevertheless, work has been ongoing for him to find a new club where he would complete his recovery and return to action.
For a while, Hajduk Split have been dreaming of a return for a player they produced from their academy but never got to use at senior level, since he was prised away by Sochaux as a teenager.
Perisic has since enjoyed an illustrious career, in which he has played for clubs like Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Tottenham.
Trustworthy sources have been indicating that Hajduk Split are now close to taking Perisic back to Croatia.
Earlier on Friday, Fabrizio Romano explained how Perisic would be leaving Tottenham on loan for the final six months of his contract.
It is an unusual type of move, but something that Tottenham have already done this month once before, when sending Eric Dier to Bayern Munich.
Now, Perisic is all set to leave on the same terms after an update from Tuttomercatoweb.
According to the Italian website, it ‘should be announced today’ that Perisic is making his ‘big return’ to his home country with Hajduk Split.
Although he is still on the road to recovery, he will ‘immediately’ become a Hajduk player again, rather than spending any more time at Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou has already admitted that Perisic’s appearance against Sheffield United in mid-September was likely the last of his 50 for the club.
“He’s working hard to be fair to Ivan,” Postecoglou said earlier this month. “He’s obviously got some national team commitments he wants to get back to as soon as possible.
“Again, he’s been a significant loss for us. I thought this year he was going to be a really significant contributor because of his experience and we saw that in the first few games because of the way he impacted games.
“But yeah, he won’t… he’s unlikely to play for us again.”
Perisic can be proud of Tottenham contributions
Although he only scored once in his Tottenham career, the fact that Perisic provided 14 assists was a respectable return for a player who was already 33 years old when he joined Tottenham and largely operated as a wing-back prior to Postecoglou’s arrival, after which he was briefly restored to a more attacking role.
His status at the club has realistically been in question ever since Antonio Conte – who brought him to the Premier League after previously working together with Inter – left last year.
Postecoglou only used Perisic as a substitute in the Premier League, in contrast, but did give him a last start in the Carabao Cup.
They will now go their separate ways, seemingly with respect, as Perisic prepares to close out his career back where it all began.
Whether he could earn a permanent contract with Hajduk Split after his loan spell remains to be seen and will likely depend on his financial demands.
His debut for the club might take until mid-April to arrive due to his rehabilitation after his ACL injury.
Beyond then, he will be hoping to represent Croatia at Euro 2024 if he has got enough match fitness under his belt by then.
Presumably, given the star status he would be worthy of back home, he should have more chances to get up to speed with Hajduk than he would with Tottenham, even if he would have remained a useful player for Postecoglou’s side in theory had he been available.
