Spurs have opened talks over the £4m signing of Portugal B striker Yannick Djalo.

Tottenham were in Lisbon last night to play a friendly against cash-strapped Portuguese champions Benfica.

And the White Hart Lane club have used the trip to start negotiations over the purchase of the 24-year-old Sporting Lisbon star. The Guinea-Bissau born player, who can also play on the wing, scored six goals last season.

With Newcastle also interested, Djalo's agent Lionel Silva has admitted Djalo wants to move to the Premier League for this season.

10 things you probably didn't know about Yannick Djalo

1) Yannick dos Santos Djalo was born on 5 May 1986 in Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony on the West African coast.

2) He moved to Portugal at the age of five, and went from five-a-side to Associacao Desportiva da Estacao, a small club based in Covilha, central Portugal.

3) Sporting Lisbon spotted his potential, signing him to the academy in 1997 for a reported fee of around €2,500.

4) He made his first appearance in the first team aged 16 in an end-of-season friendly, winning a crate of coca-cola after betting the manager he would score.

5) Djalo helped the Sporting youth team clinch the 2004-05 national championship before spending the following season on loan at Casa Pia. He took his scoring boots with him, netting 16 times, including a run of 11 straight games.

6) He has represented Portugal from U19 to U23 level, and was called up to Portugal B last year.

7) At 20 he was brought into the Sporting first team for his first division debut. He went on to make an impact, often coming off the bench, and featured in the Champions League campaign. He has so far scored 17 goals in 74 appearances for Sporting - his appearances in Europa League qualifiers this season would cup tie him for Spurs though.

8) He is married to model Luciana Abreu, who represented Portugal in the 2005 Eurovision song contest.

9) His younger brother Aliu plays for Chelsea and was part of the team which won the 2010 FA Youth Cup.

10) The 24-year-old is a striker but can also play on the wing, with his pace one of his principal assets.


Source: Mirror Football