The Portuguese press has been struggling to pick which is their number one story this week: Adrien Silva or William Carvalho.
It’s the Leicester City signing who is chosen to be on A Bola’s front page on Thursday, as they have a big story on the transfer.
The newspaper writes a very detailed article explaining how FIFA’s transfer system works, showing that only two clubs in perfect sync could make the transfer official.
A Bola claims that Leicester took too long to tell Sporting they were in for Adrien.
They waited until the confirmation, at their end at least, of Danny Drinkwater’s sale to Chelsea, and only then sent an official bid for the Portuguese midfielder.
Sporting will always be Sporting, and obviously didn’t accept the first offer. They adjusted the amount and even made some late demands, probably taking advantage of the hurry the Foxes were in to sign a replacement.
The clubs found a deal, and a Sporting source assured the newspaper that all the documents were delivered in time. But Leicester aren’t taking the blame either, so it’s hard to know whose fault it was, but the transfer was indeed submited to FIFA’s system a few seconds late.
A Bola claims that Adrien lived ‘the longest night of his footballing life’, and despite being very calm about it, has already told his lawyers to act and try to get an appeal.
In the worst scenario, the player will spend the rest of 2017 adapting to life in England and English football. Returning to Sporting is not a possibility.
