In mid January, we covered claims from Sweden of Djurgården interest in Luca de la Torre.
The 21 year old midfielder’s contract at Fulham expires in June, and therefore he’s able to enter into talks with other clubs.
Speaking about the potential move publicly on January 15th, Djurgården sporting director Bosse Andersson was quoted as saying: “It is true that we have contact with Luca de la Torre. We’ve been talking to him for a while. But without us yet agreeing.
“This isn’t a player just known to us today. This player is well known to us since a good time back. He’s interesting. He’s a good player with great qualities, but as I said we have no agreement.”
Fotboll Direkt, who brought the claims, even stated sources had told them a deal could be announced in a matter of days.
Lance Davids, the player’s agent, then suggested De La Torre could leave Fulham for another Championship club, if Djurgården didn’t hurry: “It is true that we met Djurgården on Sunday, we had a good conversation. But we have interest from several places, including from another Championship club. We need to get a message from Djurgården soon, within the next 48 hours.”
That deadline came and went, with it later being reported talks were still ongoing and a deal could be reached, with the player potentially leaving before the Swedish window closed.
Now, Fotboll Direkt have it differently, and say the demand from Davids killed the deal. Djurgården ‘felt compelled’ to end talks, clearly unhappy with the public pressure they were put under.
Things may be different if the Fulham player hasn’t found a new club by the summer, but for now it’s dead.
