West Brom have once again been named as an option for William Carvalho. Links have been in place for some time, but Tony Pulis confirming the club’s interest obviously pushed things a little more forward.
West Brom are linked several times a week by the Portuguese press, and that’s because it’s believed a move is possible this summer, but things already feel like they’re dragging on.
An upside of this dragging on is that Sporting may feel some pressure to come down on price.
West Brom paying €30m for Carvalho always sounded like a stretch, but perhaps €25m would look a lot more achievable.
Any transfer fee would have to be weighted upfront, otherwise it doesn’t make a great deal of sense for Sporting, who would be selling, at least partly, because they’d quite like the boost to their finances now.