Portuguese newspaper O Jogo may be going a little over the top on Saturday, but they report Sebastian Coates’ permanent transfer from Sunderland to Sporting is on the rocks, due a disagreement over ‘brokerage costs’.
The Sunderland owned player is currently on loan at Sporting, and the two clubs agreed that the deal could be made permanent for €5m. Coates impressed from day one at Sporting, and therefore it was always likely Sporting would look to exercise their option, as long as the player agreed.
Sporting require Coates to take a drop on the wages he’d been earning at Sunderland, and whilst that’s not said to be an insurmountable problem, his agent costs are. O Jogo believe Coates representatives wish to again take the same cut they did from his Sunderland contract, without a drop.
Those representatives have informed Sporting that Coates’ good performances, also for the Uruguay national team, have resulted in ‘several clubs’ coming forward as interested.
What does this mean for Sunderland? Well, if Coates to Sporting does collapse then Sunderland can sell the player for whatever they like and may well be able to get more than €5m on the open market.
