The Portuguese press doesn’t seem too worried about Cátio Baldé’s quotes from yesterday, when he said there was nothing between Newcastle United and his client Ruben Semedo.
It’s actually the opposite being reported today. O Jogo, who were the first to report the transfer, stand by their word, saying that there is a verbal agreement and the player should be moving to the Premier League side.
They keep saying that Newcastle will be paying €14m for 80% of the defender’s economic rights, even though this information is not very clear, especially because third party ownership is not allowed in England.
Something that would make sense is if Newcastle are agreeing to give Sporting 20% of a future sale. Especially because the Lions seem concerned about it, including clauses which forbid Semedo to join another Portuguese side in the next five years, otherwise a €30m fine would have to be paid.
That isn’t strange for Sporting, with their president Bruno de Carvalho having a paranoia about his Portuguese rivals, Benfica especially.
Plus there’s a preference for the club to get him back if Newcastle decide to sell.
Sporting are now said to be waiting for Newcastle to send the official document, confirming the figures and the payment methods, so the transfer can be made official
Record also seems confident that the move is happening. They say Newcastle officials are ‘happy’ with the price demanded by Sporting. So even though the official bid hasn’t arrived to the Lions yet, they say if Newcastle really offer €14m, it will be accepted by the Portuguese club.
