This Victor Lindelöf to Manchester United transfer is getting dirtier by the minute, and Jorge Mendes’ inclusion in all of it isn’t helping either, according to Aftonbladet.
The Portuguese agent was brought in to try and help get a deal done between Benfica and Manchester United, two clubs he knows very well, but a small Swedish club is getting in the way of all of this, and it’s becoming a bit of a problem.
Before Christmas, we covered Aftonbladet’s reports of how much Västerås SK would get if the deal were to go through, which totalled to around £8.7m, making them the second richest club in Sweden in an instant behind Malmö, Zlatan’s old club.
However, the Swedish newspaper are now reporting that Benfica are doing their utmost to try and get out of paying Västerås any money at all by trying to get Lindelöf to sign a new contract with them, which would also remove the €30m release clause.
This, of course, puts a lot of pressure on the defender, who now has the choice of agreeing the new deal, signing for Manchester United and screwing over the club where he developed OR he refuses the new deal, doesn’t sign for his dream club, and runs the risk of pissing off Benfica, all as an act of recognition for what Västerås did for him.
As Aftonbladet put it, ‘this isn’t a choice a 22-year-old guy should have to make’.
The journalist writing the article, Patrik Brenning, does, however, remain confident that Lindelöf will sign for Manchester United this transfer window, but at what cost?
For a club whose turnover is £530k, £8.7m represents growth and financial security for years to come, and Benfica (and Jorge Mendes) are apparently trying to get in the way of that, just so they can make a bit more money themselves.
The player has been left out of Benfica’s past two squads.
