A tiny figure in a black padded jacket relaxes in a huge deckchair on a forecourt with a pint, next to a giant full hourglass, with a stadium behind.

TransfersThe High Road Herald

Fussball News Links Spurs With Cruzeiro's Otavio, So Supporter Extends His Forecourt Deckchair Tenure Until 2031

Barry Napier · Transfer Correspondent18 October · Reading time: one pint

Tottenham are reportedly interested in 20-year-old Cruzeiro goalkeeper Otavio, according to Fussball News, whose contract now runs to 2031 with a €100 million release clause for foreign clubs.

A Tottenham man has extended his tenure of a deckchair outside the stadium until 2031, following a report that Spurs are interested in a goalkeeper whose own contract was extended to the same year.

The Herald understands the report originated with Fussball News, which says Tottenham are among several Premier League clubs closely monitoring Otavio, 20, of Cruzeiro. The man read it at 7:40am and was on the forecourt by ten.

Our correspondent found him on a quiet non-match day, seated in the deckchair, wearing gardening gloves of a size he described as "keeper-adjacent". He had chained the chair to a bollard. He had also drawn up terms.

If they come for him, they come through the chair. There is a €100 million release clause and I have written it on the back of a receipt.

Cruzeiro are reportedly seeking between €25 million and €30 million, having already turned down a €13 million approach from Nottingham Forest. The man has declined to say which figure he regards as binding on a deckchair.

The report also names Porto, Napoli and Borussia Dortmund as monitoring the player, a field the man has addressed by placing a second, smaller chair beside the first and leaving it unoccupied for the Italians.

He confirmed the new contract runs to 2031 and includes a provision for tea. No fee has been agreed for the chair, which has not been approached.

At press time he had asked a passing steward whether anyone from Brazil had been in touch.

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A small palm-tree island sits on a football pitch, circled by four drones whose ribbons tangle into a knot, while a distant footballer in a white shirt watches from behind.

Paper TalkThe High Road Herald

Richarlison Island Video Grows From Dispute To Saga Across Four Websites And Is Still One Island

Philippa Crane · Media Editor18 October · Reading time: one pint

The Sun reports that Richarlison released a video about a private island at Angra dos Reis, saying he spent around R$ 10 million on it, and by breakfast the same facts had been published four times.

A Tottenham man sat down to breakfast on Monday and read that Richarlison had released a video about a private island. He then read it three more times, on three more websites, and the island did not change.

The original report, credited to James Graham of The Sun, states that the forward says he bought the island between 2020 and 2021 and spent around R$ 10 million on it. The island is at Angra dos Reis, on Rio de Janeiro's Green Coast. That is the whole of the news.

The Herald has tracked the item across the morning. At the first site it was a video. At the second it was a controversy. By the third it was yet another explosive off-field controversy, and the fourth described a dramatic escalation, a phrase that had by then been borrowed without return.

It's a different island at every site, the way they write it. I've checked the map. It's one island.

No outlet added a fact. The quotation about the paperwork appeared in all four, in the same order, with the same full stop after "nothing". One site placed it higher up and called it a bombshell.

The Herald understands that the Under-21 match against Cheltenham, the transfer request and Roberto De Zerbi's squad selection were each mentioned in every version, usually in the final paragraph, as a sort of garnish.

By half past eight the man had read the island piece four times in nine minutes, and had formed no view on the island beyond its location. He has asked that this be noted.

He has finished his toast and is reading it again.

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