Villarreal are keen to see midfielder Franck Zambo Anguissa continue at the club next season, but it’s unclear whether they will pay Fulham’s €25m asking price.
The 24-year-old has spent this season on loan with the Spanish side, departing Fulham in the summer after a disastrous first year at the club.
He moved to Craven Cottage in a £22m deal from Marseille in 2018 but struggled as the Cottagers were relegated from the Premier League that season.
He has since rebuilt his reputation at Villarreal, with a series of impressive performances in La Liga this year.
A report from Sky Sports claimed that Fulham were considering a €25m offer for the on-loan midfielder from Villarreal, who are keen to make his loan deal permanent.
El Periódico de Mediterráneo cover that report today and say that the reported price ‘does not conform’ to what they have been told from inside Villarreal.
They confirm that Villarreal’s ‘priority’ is to keep the midfielder for at least one more season as he has ‘adapted perfectly both on and off the field’ but they already made a ‘significant economic outlay’ in the January transfer window to sign Paco Alcácer.
The indication from the newspaper is that they don’t have the money to pay such a fee to sign Anguissa from Fulham, although this is disputed elsewhere.
La Razón have also covered the situation and back up the claim that Villarreal are keen to improve their midfield and ‘make a leap in quality in its workforce.’
This is why they have replaced managed Javi Calleja with Unai Emery and why they intend to ‘exercise the purchase option’ they have on Anguissa, which is €25m.
The website states confidently that the Yellow Submarine ‘will acquire’ him and that he will continue his career in La Liga with the club.
Clearly, that’s a very different stance from El Periódico de Mediterráneo, whose stance was seemingly that the money isn’t there.
Either way, it’s clear that Villarreal are interested in signing Anguissa from Fulham permanently and Fulham may be able to make a profit on a transfer that really didn’t work out for them.
