Well, that didn’t take long. Tottenham Hotspur formally announced on Friday that Croatian international Ivan Perisic will be heading to Hajduk Split on loan until the end of the season, after which his Spurs contract will expire and he will be a free agent.
Perisic leaving was a foregone conclusion, as was him leaving on a free. There isn’t a club out there that would’ve considered giving Spurs an actual transfer fee to take him off our hands, and his £195k/wk wages are prohibitive at all but the largest of football clubs. Perisic has been openly negotiating to return to Split, his hometown and first club, since last summer, and now his career will complete a full circle. That’s neat.
Those wages are something else, though — as I wrote yesterday, Hajduk Split’s largest earner makes €19k/wk, about 10% of what Perisic is on now. There’s no way they’re paying all of Ivan’s wages, and while there’s no indication as to how much Spurs are subsidizing it wouldn’t shock me if it’s something like 90% or more. Even if that’s the case, they’d still shave a little off the wage bill, which is the point considering Perisic wasn’t going to play at all for the rest of the season.
Perisic is currently injured, but I’ve seen reports that suggest he could be healthy in April and hence could play for Split before the end of the season. There are also suggestions that he’s hoping to get fit in time to be considered for Croatia in the upcoming EUROs, so the loan makes even more sense.
As a player Perisic make way more sense for Antonio Conte than he ever did for Ange Postecoglou, but he gave us some exciting moments in the two seasons he was here. I wish him well as he returns home to end his playing career. Good luck, Gramps!
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