On Monday, Sporting captain Adrién Silva shocked fans by saying he was leaving the club.
In an exclusive interview with O Jogo, the midfielder revealed he was accepting Leicester City’s offer, and a verbal agreement with his club would mean the Portuguese side wouldn’t do anything to stop him from leaving.
But hey, it’s Sporting we’re talking about.
During the night, the club release an official statement on their website which said:
“In light of news articles published throughout the day in relation to the player Adrien Silva, Sporting SAD notes the following:
1 – The player renewed his contract in February 2016 in a deal involving significant sums of money, making it absolutely clear that the extension to his contract would mean that Adrien Silva would say at the Club until the end of his career. This was expressly stated by the president of Sporting CP, the player’s father and representatives before agreeing the contract.
2 – Additionally, Adrien Silva gave an interview on the 23rd of May in which he clearly said that he would not leave Sporting without winning the league.
4 – Adrien Silva is a contracted professional player who knows how to respect the club as a person and an athlete. All Sporting fans see him as an example to follow.
5 – Sporting CP and its president will always defend the interests of the club and will also defend the club’s assets.
6 – It is understandable at this stage that agents or representatives of athletes are a destabilising influence on players. This however will not affect how the club or its fans treats players.”
It came like a bomb. No one expected the club to disavow its captain. Maybe they should have, especially with Bruno de Carvalho as president.
Record has the story on their front page on Tuesday, and they also have an interview with Adrien’s agent Jonathan Mareek.
The representative was able to tell the player’s reaction to the statement: “Adrien is sad with what’s happening. A bid from a club which interests him greatly has arrived. He is sad because it’s not what was planned and agreed.
“Sporting don’t want to let him leave. By the way, they don’t even want to negotiate him. This is the biggest problem. There’s a bigger offer, by the way, which Sporting, initially, told me they were waiting to receive. They put Adrien on the market and always showed themselves receptive to negotiate.”
He confirmed Leicester’s bid and said it should’ve been enough for the transfer: “The bid was of €25m and it was never a condition that the departure was for the amount of the clause.”
But the Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho doesn’t even want to talk about the transfer now: “The office doors are completely closed. There isn’t any wish to communicate. We had a compromise with the president and the directors not to block Adrien’s career.
“The president always said there were two players in the squad who were there for many years and ‘deserved’ to have an opportunity abroad if it showed up: the goalkeeper, Rui Patrício and Adrien Silva. Today there is this possibility for Adrien and unfortunately the word isn’t being fulfilled.
“For them, it’s not a matter of money. They won’t negotiate and that’s it.”
So now Leicester City have only one option if they still want to sign Adrien Silva: €45m or nothing.
