After seeing four bids rejected by Levante for Jefferson Lerma, Onda Cero reported on Wednesday that Bournemouth have tabled a new bid of €30m with no bonuses and no percentage of a future transfer fee for the defensive midfielder.
Super Deporte claims the Spanish club have rejected the Cherries fifth offer for the player. The above mentioned figure is what the Valencia based club were initially asking for.
The reason for rejecting the offer is rather complicated, and Superdeporte don’t do an especially good job of explaining it.
They state the Levante president Quico Catalán wanted to include the signing of FC Zürich’s Raphael Dwamena for the club as a part of the payment for Lerma and therefore stopped the negotiation with the Premier League side.
First, some background: Levante want to sign the Ghanaian striker from the Swiss side, have offered €5m, which isn’t enough (as CSKA Moscow have offered €7.5m), and don’t want to go any higher.
Bournemouth have first option on all FC Zurich players through their partnership, and therefore could help Levante sign Dwamena by either paying €32.5m for Lerma, giving the La Liga club the extra cash, or using their first option to buy the forward for €7.5m and then sell him directly to Levante for €5m.
This is the most complicated version we’ve found of the Spanish side’s decision to reject the offer, as other outlets report far simpler reasons.
Marca state Levante want some variable bonuses included in the deal on top of the €30m, while Cadena SER claim board members believe that if they wait a year or so, more powerful club will come knocking for Lerma with offers ‘far superior’ to Bournemouth’s and closer to his €60m release clause.
So, basically, it’s all a bit of a mess, and no one really knows what’s going on.
Bottom line, Levante have said no.
Eddie Howe’s side could make a new offer, but it has to be done soon as the transfer window in England will close on August 9th.
If Bournemouth sign Lerma, they will have to request for special permission from the Panel of Experts of the Premier League to include Lerma in their squad because he has played less than 70% of Colombia’s matches in the last two years.
We are certain getting special permission will not be a priority for Bournemouth as of now.
