A quick note on Oscar and Tottenham's right of first refusal

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Last night we got the somewhat out of the blue news that Chelsea had reportedly agreed to a fee over Oscar. While this was somewhat shocking, anyone who watched the U20 World Cup last summer would already be well aware of the Brazilian's talent (he scored a hat trick in the final). Oscar poored some cool water on the fire shortly after the "news" leaked, and others like Martin Lipton attempted to pour even more cold water on it later in the evening:

Looks like Chelsea might have pipped Tottenham to sign Internacional's Oscar, although not sure I buy the alleged £25m price-tag. Think nearer £15m more likely. Still a fact that Spurs have agreement in place with Internacional that gives them first rights on players so may, yet, be some twists and turns in the tail.

Tottenham do indeed have a first refusal agreement with Internacional academy products after the Sandro deal in 2009. There are conflicting reports on how long exactly this deal is in place for, but the deal certainly grants Spurs the right to match any offer for an academy player that Internacional are going to sell* right now. This really shouldn't be a problem in this case, however, as Oscar is not an Internacional academy product.

*It's important to note that the player would still have to agree to the move as well

Oscar made his senior debut in 2009 for Sao Paulo, the current home of Lucas Moura and former home of Lucas Piazon. He made a total of 12 senior appearances for Sao Paulo that season before being sold to Internacional. Tottenham do not have the right to match any bid that is accepted on Oscar because he's not an Internacional academy product. We see all the time where the media will run stories without reporting accurate facts, and any you see on this subject will fall under the same category. Feel free to disregard any arguments you see on Twitter or any articles suggesting we're about to be trolled by AVB in this one, if we reach an agreement with Internacional over Oscar, we won't see Tottenham match the offer due to the Sandro deal. Silly facts...

Related: The latest on Oscar's supposed Chelsea transfer | VIDEO: Oscar's touches vs. USA