Ezequiel Schelotto is looking increasingly likely to leave Brighton and Hove Albion this summer with the two sides currently far away on a proposed contract extension.
The Italian right-back’s contract with the Seagulls, who he joined in a £2.7m deal from Sporting Lisbon in 2017, is set to expire at the end of this month.
Graham Potter’s side are keen to keep him beyond that, but it appears that both parties are currently far away from any sort of agreement.
Tuttomercatoweb report that there is ‘black smoke’ in the subject of him extending his stay at the club.
Black smoke, for those that don’t know, is in reference to the choosing of a new Pope, with black smoke released to let people know Papal Conclave has failed to agree on the next Pope.
Thus, black smoke in this situation means Brighton and Schelotto are currently not close to agreeing on a deal for him to remains with the club.
TMW say this is because that Brighton have offered a one year deal with the option of another to Schelotto, but he isn’t interested as he wants a two-year contract.
There is also a ‘distance on the figures’, suggesting Schelotto is looking for more money than the club are willing to pay.
As such, his future is looking to be ‘far from Brighton’ and instead could find him back in Serie A.
Schelotto has had spells with several Italian sides earlier in his career, namely Atalanta, Inter Milan and Chievo and there are two sides there who are still keen on him.
One of those are Torino who, ‘think about’ a transfer while Bologna are also said to be ‘in the background’ and waiting should he fail to agree on a deal with Brighton, as is looking likely to happen at this moment in time.
