Since João Palhinha’s transfer to Fulham still hasn’t been made official, each Portuguese newspaper today comes up with its own story to talk about this delay today.
One of them is A Bola, who have a very similar story to the one published on Tuesday by UOL, who said Jorge Mendes demands €2m from the move.
They say the super agent had been given exclusivity to negotiate Palhinha’s sale in the English market, but claim the deal with Fulham was actually agreed by Hernan Reguera, along with the player’s brother Gonçalo.
The issue is that the offer they brought to Sporting was €18m. Then Jorge Mendes showed up, handled the talks and made Fulham reach €20m plus €2m in bonuses. So now his company, Gestifute, believe they should get 10% of that amount, while Reguera thinks differently.
A Bola says the agreement has been closed since last Friday, and the commissions are the only issue stopping the move. The newspaper is still confident that ‘all parties’ believe the transfer is happening and the player is travelling to London in the coming days, with Jorge Mendes obviously winning the battle.
Meanwhile, other newspapers such as Correio da Manhã, O Jogo and Record all cover the claims regarding a potential issue between the agents, but still make it clear that the agreement is done and not collapsing. The latter two claim it’s Mendes who’s been responsible for the talks all along.
Correio da Manhã is the most confident about how quick it will happen, claiming the deal will be announced ‘in the coming hours or, at the limit, in one or two days’.
