West Ham United haven’t made an official bid for Moussa Marega, according to FC Porto president Pinto da Costa.
The club official has given a very clarifying interview to local outlet O Jogo today, and claims that despite an approach, the negotiations with the Premier League side have never reached an advanced stage.
“Regarding Marega, we have no concrete offer and last Thursday the son of the West Ham owner was in Porto accompanied by an agent,” Pinto da Costa told O Jogo.
“They asked about several players, one of them Marega, but they did not present any concrete proposal. And they were informed that the player and his agent had agreed to the renewal for one more season with new expiration and new release clause.”
“The gentlemen from West Ham understood the situation and did not show a concrete proposal,” he says.
This new contract that Marega had agreed was the main topic in the conversation. Because even though the agreement wasn’t public, Pinto da Costa insisted that there was a deal with the player’s agent, and therefore, there was no promise to let the striker leave.
“I think it’s strange that now the agent will say that he had a promise to leave when he had been negotiating a new deal with FC Porto days before. The contract was ready to be signed, but later they didn’t sign. If they had the promise that the player could leave, they wouldn’t negotiate a new contract.”
With Marega withdrawn from the squad and his agent confirming the €30m bid from West Ham, it’s hard to believe there was nothing. At least a verbal offer was probably made by the Hammers, even though Porto could easily dismiss that.
The local media insists that the Dragons will not let Marega go for less than his release clause, which is of €40m.
