Once solely pursued by Everton, Allan is attracting more and more suitors as the days and weeks go by.
Mentioned sporadically previously, Atlético Madrid have become one of the main competitors for the signing of the Carlo Ancelotti protégé, to the point where Corriere dello Sport call them ‘the most preoccupying’.
The newspaper explain the ‘threshold’ to reach remains €40m for the Brazilian midfielder, which Everton failed to meet in January with their ‘€20m + €5m in bonuses’ offer.
The Toffees now, however, need to ‘build the future’ and have restarted with an ‘open-air transfer plan’ (meaning there are no ceilings), kicking off a ‘new surge’ and have ‘opened a dialogue’ for Allan.
They aren’t the only ones, since Atlético Madrid are present, while the names of Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund are also mentioned.
The Germans are said to have offered €25m, but, much like Everton’s January offer, it isn’t enough.
Ancelotti’s side are described as being ‘in the lead’, with Atlético ‘on their back’.
Most of this is echoed by Il Mattino, who also claim Dortmund have made a €25m offer (although they say there are a few bonuses as well), which, again, doesn’t satisfy Aurelio De Laurentiis.
The hope in Naples now is that all this interest creates some sort of ‘small auction’ for the defensive midfielder, helping his price rise.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, as we doubt clubs are going to meet the so-called €40m threshold, simply because Allan hasn’t played all that much and doesn’t fall in Gennaro Gattuso’s plans.
Clubs know this, De Laurentiis also knows this, but he’s just being an owner who wants as much as possible for his asset.
You can’t blame him, but the more this drags on, the likelier it is his demands will drop, even if it’s just by a small amount.
