After reporting Sporting’s wish to sign Joe Hart from Manchester City, Portuguese newspaper Record comes up with an update on the situation today.
They now claim that the Lions will only start making the moves for the signing once Rui Patrício concludes his departure from the club.
The Portuguese international is in advanced negotiations to move to Napoli, with Record expecting the transfer to be done this weekend. There have been claims elsewhere in Portugal that there’s trouble with the Patrício deal, but Record clearly don’t think so.
That’s why it’s called a ‘patience game’, with Sporting waiting before making an attempt to sign Hart, who’s presented as their big target of the transfer market.
Even though Joe Hart has a contract with Manchester City running until 2019, Sporting hope to get him on a free transfer. The idea is to convince him to break his contract with the Premier League club, just like when signing Jeremy Mathieu from Barcelona.
Record claims that Hart currently earns around €7.5m gross per season at City, and would have to accept a huge pay cut to make the move. Sporting’s idea is to pay him €2m per year after tax, plus a signing bonus of €3m or €4m. The goalkeeper would sign a two-year contract.
It’s an unlikely prospect, with all the recent trouble at Sporting it’s not the most attractive proposition, without having to take a pay cut.
