The Portuguese press today brings two different slants on Manchester City’s chase for Velez Sarsfield youngster Thiago Almada.
One of their stories comes from O Jogo. They say that after having a €10m bid rejected, the Premier League side are making a second offer.
Almada is said to be protected by a €16m release clause, which has been the price demanded by the Argentine side.
But instead of triggering the clause, Manchester City would be making an offer of €12m, which doesn’t sound like a figure Velez will accept.
Meanwhile, Jornal de Notícias are not so confident of a development in the negotiations. They say things have ‘decelerated’ and ‘gone cold’.
It’s claimed that there’s a fight between the Argentine club saying Almada’s release clause has gone to €25m, while his staff claim a contract extension hasn’t been signed and the clause is still €16m.
They say Manchester City no longer have interest in advancing, and the negotiations could be stopping now. So it’s got to a stage where it’s hard to know hard to know if Jornal de Notícias or O Jogo are right, and only time will tell.
The reason why the Portuguese press continues to follow the situation closely is that if this deal gets done, Sporting should have Almada on a one-year loan deal from City.
