Tottenham transfer news: why Spurs aren't considering selling Souza despite strong competition

Tottenham Hotspur signed Souza for £12.75m in January. The young left-back left Santos as one of the position's brightest prospects, but he has not yet had many opportunities at the club, despite already attracting interest from major European sides.

Benfica recently made a £17m offer for the Brazilian, but, as Trivela has learned, Tottenham rejected the bid. Despite significant competition for places at left-back, selling the 20-year-old is not part of the English club's plans.

Destiny Udogie and recently signed Andrew Robertson are expected to be the two main options competing for the left-back role.

Both are established names, which makes Souza's continued presence at the club, having featured in just four matches so far, all the more intriguing. The plan may well be linked to Roberto De Zerbi.

Benfica's offer for Souza and Tottenham's transfer market

The young full-back has attracted European interest and could have left the London club just six months after arriving.

Reports suggest that, alongside Benfica's official offer, other clubs made enquiries about the player, but that the decision to keep him did not necessarily come from the player or his camp, but from Tottenham themselves.

In a transfer window in which the club has spent around £220m on reinforcements, it would be reasonable to assume that a young player with limited playing time, generating £17m, would be viewed favourably by the club.

The arrivals of Sandro Tonali, Matheus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke have raised the level of the squad and required significant fees.

Savinho remains another long-standing target for Spurs. The Manchester City Brazilian is part of Enzo Maresca's pre-season squad, but the London club remain interested, even though no official offer has been made.

How Souza could develop and help De Zerbi's Tottenham

Souza made his name at Santos as a traditional full-back who attacks the space down the line and likes to get to the byline. He was even dubbed the 'new Marcelo' when his move to Tottenham was announced.

In Brazil, he was crucial for Santos during moments of transition and quick counter-attacks. He offers a more attacking option at full-back, one capable of providing width further forward in positional attacks for a more patient Tottenham side under De Zerbi.

On the other hand, the young full-back has both Udogie and Robertson ahead of him, two well-established names in the Premier League. However, it is precisely the fact that he offers a different type of full-back that could prove decisive for his future at the club.

There is some uncertainty over how Spurs' attacking structure will look given the options available. Ideally, De Zerbi would keep Udogie as his starting left-back in an inverted role, tucking inside alongside the midfielders and providing central support.

This would help retain possession, protect the team during transitions, and even allow him to attack space from the half-space, something he has done previously.

Robertson, despite historically being a more attacking, wide-oriented full-back like Souza, is now 32 and no longer has the same energy as before, which is partly why he lost his place at Liverpool.

He could represent a more experienced short-term option than Souza in that style, but he could also shift into more of a build-up role, or even drop into central defence, similar to Ben Davies.

However, that also depends on who plays on the left wing. With the full-back positioned deeper, it would be the winger providing width and taking on one-versus-one situations near the touchline. Savinho, for example, could be that player.

Therefore, should the club fail to find a winger suited to that role, it could fall to the left-back to provide the team's width and individual quality on the ball.

And while both Udogie and Robertson are capable of performing that role, with the former possessing greater physical capacity than the latter, Souza could still come into the equation.