Tottenham Hotspur had a busy as well as crazy last hours of the January transfer window, as they concluded two deals on the deadline day. After days of prolonged negotiations which twice underwent alterations, Spurs finally signed their top target of the window, Pedro Porro from Sporting Lisbon. The two sides have agreed on an initial loan until the end of the season, which will then be made permanent in the summer by Spurs for £39.7m.
Meanwhile, they also had to offload Matt Doherty as a result of Porro’s signing, who plies his trade in the same position as the Republic of Ireland international. Doherty chose Atletico Madrid as his destination, with Spurs and the Spaniards sharing a healthy relationship due to their past dealings. A loan deal was finalised until the summer, only for Tottenham Hotspur to drop a bombshell by confirming that they have actually terminated the right wing-back’s contract.
Tottenham Hotspur hit international loan limit forcing them to let Doherty go for free
Tottenham Hotspur apparently had to accept to terminate Doherty’s contract termination at the last moment to keep themselves aligned with the rules. No one, even the right-back himself, saw the termination coming. Although he happily accepted it and move to Atletico, the move came out of the blue. Doherty has established himself as a reliable team player during his time in north London after moving to Spurs from Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020.
Although Conte stated in October last year that he wasn’t seeing the Doherty in the ‘right way’ to start Premier League games, the full-back made a total of 71 appearances for the club over his time, scoring 3 goals and providing 9 assists. Moreover, Conte bemusingly preferred Emerson Royal over Doherty, which further pushed the latter towards an exit. However, it wasn’t anticipated at all that a contract termination will be the solution. A statement from Tottenham Hotspur read:
“We have mutually agreed to the termination of Matt Doherty’s contract to enable him to join another club. Signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers in August, 2020, the Republic of Ireland international made 71 appearances for us in all competitions, scoring three goals. We should like to thank Matt for his service and wish him well for the future.”
But why did Tottenham, after agreeing to loan Doherty to Atletico, had to terminate his contract? Apparently, Spurs hit their limit of maximum number of international loans which is eight. They currently have those slots filled with eight players already outside the United Kingdom on loan. Atletico already have taken their left-back Sergio Reguilon on loan until the summer, Tanguy Ndombele is involved in Serie A title race with Napoli, Harry Winks is trying to help Sampdoria avoid relegation.
Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil have been shipped to La Liga, with the Argentine on loan to Villarreal and the Spaniard with Sevilla. Summer recruits Djed Spence joined Rennes and Destiny Udogie, who signed from Udinese is spending the rest of this season with the Italian side. Doherty being loaned out to Atletico would have took up Tottenham’s number of international loans to nine, which is prohibited under the FIFA rules.
As a result, with Doherty likely to get meagre minutes at Tottenham after Porro’s arrival, the club rather terminated his contract mutually and let him join Atletico for free. The Los Rojiblancos had only Nahuel Molina has a natural right-back in their squad, after letting Kieran Trippier leave for Newcastle in January last year. Doherty now provides a backup as well as a competition to World Cup winner Molina at right-back.