The Steven Pienaar transfer saga is drawing to a close after the Everton winger tweeted his goodbyes to the Merseyside club and announced that he'll be moving to Tottenham Hotspur, which will end Chelsea's pursuit of the midfielder. Here's Pienaar's tweet in full:
To end speculation I am going to Spurs. I've had brilliant years at Everton and it will always be a special place in my heart.
-Steven Pienaar. Source: Twitter.
Presumably he meant to add a comma after speculation otherwise the tweet doesn't make much sense. Not that the account isn't verified, but all in all this looks to be legit. Pienaar to Spurs looked dead in the water as recently as Saturday, but after the South African failed to reach personal terms with Chelsea following a period of negotiations Tottenham upped their bid and were permitted by Everton to enter discussions with the midfielder. Obviously, they went well, and Pienaar's heading towards north London rather than west.
It was hard to imagine Pienaar being more than a squad player with Chelsea, and although he filled some needs on the cheap the Blues would probably do better making a bigger splash elsewhere. Spurs paid Everton a transfer fee of £3M (update: BBC reports £2.5M) for the winger, whose contract was set to expire this summer, and although the terms of his new contract are unknown, Pienaar was reportedly asking something in the realm of £70,000 per week. Chelsea will now turn their focus to other targets - bringing Benfica's David Luiz into the fold is probably now their number one priority.