West Ham United are still to find an agreement with Benfica for the transfer of Gedson Fernandes. We have four different stories from the Portuguese media about it today, all of them claiming that nothing has been decided yet.
Let’s start with the most positive one. A Bola says Hammers officials are in Lisbon, accompanied by an agency of intermediates, and a deal could be found today.
They say there are two ways this transfer could be done. Either with a normal loan until the end of the season, or with a loan until the summer of 2021, with a buying option of €80m.
A Bola is the only one bringing this version, as all other newspapers say the transfer is not so close to happening.
Record says West Ham have been in Lisbon since Tuesday, but still couldn’t find a deal for him. The club’s idea would be to get him on a loan deal until the summer of 2021, with a non obligatory buying option.
There would also be a clause to send him back to Benfica in case the Hammers are relegated to Championship. And despite the lack of an agreement so far, Record says there’s still a chance this could have a happy ending.
Newspaper Correio da Manhã is the one with the shortest article, only saying West Ham are ‘further away’ from Gedson, since an agreement couldn’t be found in a meeting with Benfica yesterday.
The last story comes from O Jogo, and it brings a little more complexity to this saga. They say there are three agents trying to sell Gedson Fernandes, and that’s been making things more difficult.
They say Fernandes’ agent is officially Miguel Pinho. However, Jorge Mendes and Pini Zahavi have also been presenting themselves as representatives during the negotiations with West Ham.
The Hammers are said to be leading the race for the player, as they’ve already been in Lisbon negotiating and also have his preference, since his parents live in London.
In O Jogo’s version, the transfer could happen with a loan of one and a half seasons, and a buying option of €40m. Depending on some ‘special conditions’, the clause could go up to €60m.
But the outlet really believes that this problem with agents could end the chances of a deal, and that’s the main focus of their story.
