At the end of last month, Sporting CP released a document showing the details of every sale they made during the summer transfer window.
Most of them included some clauses, especially to buy the players back or stop them from joining rivals Benfica or Porto in the future, as is standard procedure at the Lisbon club.
The list included Marvin Zeegelar’s transfer to Watford, which cost the Hornets €3m right at the end of the summer market.
But it seems not all the clubs had the patience to negotiate all of Sporting’s demands. At least not Sevilla, as revealed by their sporting director Oscar Arias this week.
“Regarding Zeegelaar, there’s been too much literature. The player came to Sevilla and passed medical examinations, we were waiting to sign the documentation and at that point Sporting include a penalty clauses on the player, changed a number of issues that had not been brought before, we tried to redirect the situation.
“They didn’t want Benfica or Porto to be reinforced with the player in the future… And we got tired and started looking at other options” (via Estadio Deportivo).
As Sporting were looking to sell Zeegelaar anyway, his agent continuedlooking for options, and that’s when Watford showed up wanting him.
However, it’s still too early to say if Watford were lucky in this case. Because despite being over one month since Zeegelaar arrived, he’s still to debut and show his potential for the Hornets.
