Last week, there were reports that Brentford, in search of a new left-back, wanted to sign Renan Lodi from Marseille.
The Bees were interested in some sort of loan with an obligation to buy, although the stance from the south of France was that he wasn’t going to leave.
What they should have said was that he isn’t available for that formula, because the Brazilian appears to be on the verge of leaving the Ligue 1 side, but not for Brentford, as explained by Foot Mercato.
That’s because Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia also want the defender, who is reportedly ‘living his last few hours’ at the French side.
Signed for €13m last summer, Lodi is now expected to head to the Middle-East, after the Saudi club offered €22m + €3m in bonuses to acquire him.
That will be more than anything Brentford had in mind for Lodi, who will be ‘tripling’ his wages by agreeing to the transfer.
While he didn’t ‘get the crowd crazy’ since his arrival, he had been the player relied upon the most in the position, but such money is hard to refuse for the French side, who have already ticked both Adrien Truffert and Josh Doig as replacements.
Brentford, down their end, will have to look elsewhere.
