After what felt like a protracted transfer saga, Tottenham Hotspur finally got their man when completing the signing of Savio from Manchester City.
They had opened talks to try and sign him last summer. It feels like they’ve been in talks with Manchester City most of this summer to try and sign the Brazilian.
Now, they finally have him.
So, let’s take a look at Sávio’s fascinating backstory, from his farm boy beginnings to climbing through the City Football Group to reach the Premier League, delivering on coaching prophecies, the dreams of friends and proving himself right when he says he was “born with the gift of playing football”.
Why Spurs signed Savio
Tottenham and Manchester City agreed a deal worth a reported £75 million, with £10 million add-ons for Sávio in August 2026. While representing a record sale for Manchester City, it still falls short of Tottenham’s biggest signing this summer: Sandro Tonali from Newcastle.
On signing, Savio requested to be referred to as Savio, rather than Savinho moving forwards. Sporting director, Johan Lange, admitted he’d been on their radar “for a while” and noted he’d already shown his quality at the highest level , adding, “I know he will excite our supporters every time he gets on the ball”.
Head coach Roberto De Zerbi, meanwhile, listed the energy, imagination and quality that Sávio will bring to Tottenham’s attack, as well as quality in wide positions. “He has the courage to attack defenders and the ability to change a game with his creativity”.
Savio’s farm boy beginnings and a footballing prophecy
Growing up on the east coast of Brazil, much of Sávio’s childhood was spent at his family’s farm. “At home we have a cow farm,” he told Manchester City’s official website, when signing for them back in 2024. “We make milk and also put on rode shows. It’s very nice. I had always lived on the farm, enjoying a very quiet life, then suddenly I moved to Atletico Mineiro.”
He was just 10 years old when the Brazilian Serie A side came calling for him. He left for Minerio on his own at first, though his mother did come and join him, staying by his side until he was 18.
That fulfilled something of a prophecy, with his mother Dona Nilma telling the BBC that when Sávio was just five, she’d been told “this kid will be a footballer” by one of his coaches.
Breaking records with Mineiro
Savio joined Atletico Mineiro aged just 11 having impressed them when playing in a match against their U-17 side.
Switching from playing football on the beach to the grass had paid dividends and it wasn’t long before Sávio made his breakthrough with Mineiro. The rise was indeed rapid, with him becoming their youngest ever player when making his senior debut at 16.
He soon became their youngest ever scorer, too, when finding the net at the Copa Libertadores as an 18-year-old.
Enter City Football Group
Having impressed in his short time in the first-team with Atletico Mineiro, Savio had started something of a frenzy for his signature. Arsenal were reportedly in the running, but it was the City Football Group that run out.
He joined them for €6.5 million initially, with the promise of a further €6 million should performance-related bonuses be met. He was assigned to Troyes in Ligue 1, initially, though curiously never made an appearance for them – such is the quirks of the multi-club system.
Instead, after joining them in June 2022, he then moved to PSV the same July. But it was here that he saw his wings clipped somewhat after his rapid rise to date.
A difficult loan spell in the Netherlands
Next Generation 2021: 60 of the best young talents in world football, read the headline on The Guardian’s website.
Scroll your way through and there are some recognisable names from Andreas Schjelderup, who has been linked with Tottenham this summer, to Valentin Barco who has just joined Chelsea, and even Norwich City’s Mohamed Toure who has been tentatively touted with a Premier League switch after a lightning start to life in Norfolk.
But there is also Sávio, described as “one of the most skilful youngsters of his generation”. That gives some idea of the reputation he’d cultivated for himself in Brazil, before making the switch to Europe.
At PSV, though, things were difficult. He made just eight appearances and managed no goals. An early injury had stifled his progress and he never quite managed to recover from that, leaving him struggling for a chance to make an impact.
So, where did he go form here? As it happens, a key tournament that summer probably set in motion the next few years of Sávio’s career.
A starring role at the U-20 World Cup
Sávio was called up to Brazil’s U-15 side and starred as part of the team that won the U-15 South American Championship. He scored four goals.
In what seems to be Sávio like fashion in the fledgling stages of his career, he then scored four in five for the U-16 team, played three times for the U-18 side and then found himself primed to play with the U-20s.
It’s the summer of 2023 and after a lacklustre loan spell with PSV, Savinho is part of the Brazil U-20 side set to play in the U-23 World Cup held in Argentina. Despite losing to Italy in their first game, Brazil come through the group stages thanks to a 6-0 win over the Dominican Republic – where Savinho scores – and a 2-0 win over Nigeria.
A 4-1 win over Tunisia sees them to progress to the quarter-finals, only to lose in extra-time to Israel. But Sávio’s performance had brought the attention back, leading to a loan move to Girona.
“We’re going to finish in the top 8”
While Girona sporting director, Quique Cárcel, was convinced of Sávio’s talent, head coach Michel was less so. He’d wanted a more experienced winger instead.
Then, Michel saw him train. “We’re going to finish in the top eight,” he told Cárcel. Girona actually ended up finishing third, running Real Madrid and Barcelona close in the race for the La Liga title.
Through it all, Sávio was one of their best players. He finished the season with 11 goals and 10 assists in 41 games. He earned a call-up to the senior Brazil side and a move to the Premier League to play for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.
Fulfilling a friend’s dream
Sávio and prophecies seem to be a thing. After delivering on a former coach’s verdict when he was just five that he’d be a footballer, he then fulfilled a dream of his friend’s when moving to Manchester.
“I have a friend whose dream was for me to become a Manchester City player,” he revealed, when signing for them. “We used to play video games together, and he always played as Manchester City. I played with other teams, and he said that his dream was for me to one day join Manchester City and that I had the potential to get there.”
He did indeed. Though, at City, it’s fair to say he didn’t quite deliver on that potential in the way he might have hoped.
He had become one of the first players to clamber through the City Football Group and make his way into the Manchester City first-team, which was some feat, but in terms of impact, he never quite hit the heights.
After just two goals in 53 Premier League games, is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the perfect place for him to restore his reputation and continue his charge forwards?
What sort of a player is Sávio?
“I was born with the gift of playing football,” is a line Sávio has uttered multiple times. So, he’s certainly not lacking in self belief.
He does have gifts, though, that’s for sure, blessed with pace, playing out on his favoured right-hand side, he loves to beat his man and drive inside onto his stronger foot to create for others, or himself. He is capable of playing off the left as well, which gives Roberto De Zerbi options.
During that fantastic season with Girona, he actually spent most of his time playing off the left, creating a huge 28 chances from open-play and seven open-play assists, as per Opta Analyst. He continued this form with Manchester City in his first season – tallying up eight assists, creating 46 chances – 11 of them big, and attempting 102 dribbles.
His dribbling ability has also been routinely praised. At Girona, he completed 104 successful dribbles. That was almost 20 more than any other player. Michel praised him, stating: “I know they are big words, but since the emergence of Vinicius I don’t think I have seen a one-on-one talent as destabilising as him.”
There’s little doubting, then, should De Zerbi be able to get the best out of him, then Sávio promises to bring plenty of excitement to N17.
Savio’s personal details
Sávio Moreira de Oliveira was born 10 April 2004. For a good wedge of his career, he went by Savinho, with the ‘inho’ essentially meaning ‘little’. However, moving to Tottenham, he requested to be called Sávio moving forwards.
He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Anna Carolina Barbosa, who is a physiotherapist. The couple got engaged when Savinho was 18 and then married a year later.
They have a baby daughter together.
Sávio is on Instagram, where he has more than 2 million followers.