Earlier this week, reports from Mexico suggested that Liverpool were very close to signing Héctor Herrera from Porto. News from Italy said there was a strong competition from Napoli as well.
After reading the Portuguese newspaper on Thursday, it seems there are two very different stories about the player’s departure. One of them encourages the sale and the other one says it’s far from being done.
Lisbon sport newspaper Record claim that all the speculation has made the midfielder more valuable.
Record say that sources close to the player have confirmed that there’s a possibility to join Liverpool on the table, which will be analysed just like Napoli’s bid that has arrived a few days ago.
The Italian side have reportedly offered €17m plus €3m in bonuses, but Porto want €25m.
Herrera would have already accepted the conditions to join Napoli, but as the Portuguese club negotiate the sale, they wait for a better offer from Liverpool which could be done “in the next few hours”.
Representatives from Porto, Napoli and Herrera are set to meet today in a hotel in Milan, where they expect to get to the best terms for all the parties involved. So Liverpool’s bid would just be a pleasant surprise to get his price up.
But O Jogo (which is known for being a paper from the city of Porto) have a completely different view on Herrera’s situation. Their article says the club have no interest in selling the 26-year-old at all.
O Jogo say all the claims lack official confirmation as no bids have been made so far. “Porto would prefer to keep their captain instead of negotiating him”, is what their story says, so Herrera would only leave for his release clause.
The fact is that Héctor Herrera has a contract until 2019 and a €40m buyout clause, and with Porto’s history of sales, they will do everything they can to get close to that amount.
