Brighton & Hove Albion defender Tariq Lamptey is a ‘priority target’ for Sporting Club de Portugal as they look for a replacement for Héctor Bellerín.
That’s according to Record, who say the Portuguese side are ‘evaluating different options’ for reinforcements on the right wing and Lamptey is one of them.
They have Basel’s Dan Ndoye on their list and Shakhtar Donetsk’s Vinícius Tobias has been offered to them but the Lions ‘maintain their priority’ is signing Lamptey from Brighton.
The defender was already on their radar in the January transfer window and now holds pole position in terms of the players Sporting are looking at.
That’s because Brighton asked for €25m in the January transfer window and would now want as much as €18m to sanction a deal. Part of that amount would be dependent on various objectives and goals, but that figure is still far too high for Sporting.
They would instead prefer a loan deal with a purchase option included and that is the only way he would arrive at the Portuguese club.
There would also have to be a major effort in terms of wages as Lamptey earns €2.5m at Brighton and the Seagulls would likely want most of that, or indeed all of it, if they were to sanction a loan exit.
