On Monday The Sun claimed Crystal Palace have submitted a £12m bid to sign Vicente Iborra from Sevilla. After a failed move to Sunderland during the summer transfer window, The Sun explained that this time the transfer could actually happen and Iborra fulfil what the newspaper claim is a long held desire to play in England.
‘Iborra looks to have got his wish as a fee of around £12million is close to being agreed for the former Levante man.’
Sevilla selling their captain to Crystal Palace would be huge news in Seville, but it’s not really getting much coverage. Diario de Sevilla have nothing on it, and Estadio Deportivo, a daily newspaper covering sport, mainly football, in the city have nothing direct either.
What the latter do have is some comments from Iborra on Monday, the day after Sevilla ended Real Madrid’s long unbeaten run. On his future, the midfielder is quoted as saying: “I dream of living moments like this week, it is a privilege to play in this team, in this club, with these colleagues, and hopefully we can live more moments like yesterday. My future is not something that I considered, more so with the situation that we have in La Liga and the Champions League… I have always prioritised the sport, we are at an unbeatable moment and I want to enjoy this moment.”
But surely helping Sam Allardyce avoid relegation at Crystal Palace is a bigger pull than the chance to win La Liga and progress in the Champions League, no?
The Crystal Palace claims have also been picked up by Spanish national sport newspaper AS. Usually talking up transfer claims, their Manolete column does the opposite for this one, saying it ‘seems impossible’ because Iborra and Sevilla are ‘delighted’ with each other.
Iborra turned 28 years of age on Monday, and there’s a reasonable possibility he’d look to move on sooner or later for a bumper pay-day.
However, with Sevilla going strong in La Liga, and facing Leicester City in the Champions League, after winning the Europa League three years on the run, it surely makes more sense for Iborra to stay where he is for now. Then, when he does move, he’d also surely be looking for something more attractive than a relegation battle with Crystal Palace.
Stranger things have happened in football, but not much stranger.
