Things appear to be going from bad to worse for Birmingham City in their pursuit of Afriyie Acquah.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Torino could pull the plug on the Ghanaian midfielder’s exit to St Andrew’s as talks with Bologna regarding Godfred Donsah had stalled.
However, ToroNews, part of the Gazzetta Network, have a slightly different version of the story, reporting that it’s actually the club’s manager, Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has put the transfer on hold due to being reluctant to see the player go.
The fee mentioned has always been upwards of €8m, but the local website claim the offer was actually €7.5m to be paid in two instalments.
Unless Birmingham come back with a ‘sensational’ improved offer, that appears to be that.
Also reporting this version of the events (although no figures are mentioned) are La Stampa, relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb, who also claim Mihajlovic is the one behind the stalling rather than the Godfred Donsah situation.
From what we can tell, it seems Torino’s manager is debating whether the Bologna midfielder will be a suitable replacement for Afriyie Acquah, as La Stampa state he now needs to figure out if bringing him in is actually necessary, especially for €6m.
This has all got very messy very quickly, and, for now at least, it seems the deal is well and truly off.
Don’t be surprised if it’s back on tomorrow, though, such is the transfer window when it reaches its latter stages.
