A few months ago, João Mário changed his agent. He stopped working with Jorge Mendes and hired Kia Joorabchian to take care of his career.
It’s quite obvious that when a player makes a move like this, he wants someone more aggressive to give him either a transfer or a better contract at his club.
And that’s exactly what Kia Joorabchian is doing right now.
In an interview with Wednesday’s edition of Portuguese newspaper Record, the Iranian agent said: “A European champion must be rewarded. From now on, we either discuss a new contract or the sale to another club.”
Just like the player’s father did during the weekend, Joorabchian also mentioned Liverpool’s rejected bid for the midfielder: “Sporting received four offers. Inter Milan and Liverpool, certainly, with amounts between 35 and 40 million, plus bonuses. Sporting turned down all bids.”
Record says the other two clubs who had their offers rejected were Chelsea and PSG.
According to the newspaper, João Mário currently earns €30k per month at the club, which is far from what the highest-paid players in the squad do.
The 23-year-old has a €60m release clause, and Sporting only want to sell him if a club offers something close to that amount.