Moussa Marega’s desperate attempt to leave Porto for West Ham is the big news in Portugal today, with most of the newspapers having a story about it.
It’s the northern outlet O Jogo who has the most complete article, claiming that things haven’t been good between player and manager Sérgio Conceição for a few days now.
Marega has reportedly questioned the boss about a promise he had made last season, which said the player could leave the club in the summer as long as Porto won the league.
So on Wednesday, Conceição didn’t like Marega’s dedication in training and told him he could leave early. The situation dragged onuntil Friday, when the player was removed from the squad. He didn’t train and isn’t playing the Super Cup game against Aves tonight.
O Jogo claims that Marega had forgotten about this Premier League dream, but things changed when West Ham offered €30m for him this week.
His agent Aziz Ben Aissa had a word with O Jogo and explained the situation: “Marega isn’t cheating. It’s normal for you to be upset because you have been promised things that are not being fulfilled.
“He knows there’s a clause and he has two more years of contract. FC Porto are right at this level, but we ask that they be sensitive to the will of a player who was crucial to the title.”
“No one is making war or wanting to harm FC Porto, because Marega likes the club and it’s thanks to FC Porto that he’s desired by several clubs. But we wanted them to keep the promise and open the negotiations because his head is in England.”
According to O Jogo, Porto insists that they’re not letting Marega go for less than his €40m release clause.
