Udinese and Watford are both owned by the Pozzo family and Gino Pozzo ‘could sell’ Rodrigo De Paul and replace him with Roberto Pereyra, according to Messaggero Veneto.
Multiple reports from the Italian press have covered Leeds United interest in De Paul in recent weeks.
On September 23rd, Messaggero Veneto reported the Whites are ‘still far off from’ the €40m demanded by the Serie A side.
Another report from the same outlet now explains discussions around the 26-year-old’s future ‘will remain a soap opera’ until the market closes on October 5th.
Udinese were initially demanding €40m for the Argentine, but there’s belief they are ready to negotiate if there’s an offer of around €35m. Some reports have even put the figure at lower than that.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side, however, are ‘stuck at €25m’, which it’s stated is €10m short of the fee needed to start the negotiations.
Leeds president Andrea Radrizzani is ‘wading around’ in search of other options, with Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskiy and Inter Milan’s João Mário identified as alternatives to De Paul.
The Italian club are not in a hurry to sell their player, and in the event the South American ends up staying at Udinese, they will work on improving his contract.
Meanwhile, TuttoMercatoWeb states Pereyra, who has already asked to leave Watford, is ‘one step away’ from returning to Udinese.
