The Portuguese media really don’t need any encouragement to push transfer stories regarding Ousmane Diomande. For what feels like years they’ve been acting almost as a salesperson on behalf of Sporting, pushing any idea of interest and hyping things beyond what they actually are.
Perhaps more so than they’ve done with any other player still in Portuguese football. Clearly, Diomande has long been a player Sporting are ready to cash in on, and Saturday’s edition of A Bola reports Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich are ‘very attentive’ to the defender.
Arsenal get thrown in as an interested party later in the article, but it’s Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Manchester United who are the Premier League clubs most strongly pushed this time.
Claims regarding Crystal Palace were reported by The Telegraph on Friday, and that’s the tiny encouragement needed for A Bola. The Portuguese newspaper states they’ve been able to confirm contact from the Eagles, and that there’s been no offer of any kind at this stage.
Crystal Palace are said to have asked the conditions to sign Diomande, and there’s no such claim about Liverpool or Manchester United.
A Bola insist Sporting want something around €60m, with the price going up again after the 21-year-old had a good season, perhaps the most consistent campaign of his career.
Diomande is certainly a very talented central defender, it’s just there’s been such an effort to push his sale for so long that each new wave promotes an eye-roll.
The report states one of the named clubs could put forward an offer in the coming days.
