Crystal Palace were not the only club interested in Dario Osorio this summer but offered the best deal for the 22-year-old.
That’s at least if Midtjylland’s Sporting Director Kristian Bach Bak is to be believed. He’s been discussing the departure this summer, in what proved to be a window of record sales for the club.
Midtjylland set ‘entirely new standards’ during the summer transfer window, achieving sales figures for the club that had never been seen before in a single window.
Not only did they achieve records for a Superliga club, but it was also the biggest ever window for a Scandinavian club.
Crystal Palace highlight
The highlight of that summer was the sale of Dario Osorio to Crystal Palace. He departed for Selhurst Park in a package worth 210m kroner (€19.56m).
That includes a potential 30m kroner (€2.79m) in bonuses. The move is initially a loan with an obligation to buy.
With the total price tag in mind, that meant he surpassed Caleb Yirenkyi’s move to Coventry City to become the biggest sale in Scandinavian history.
Claus Steinlein, Midtjylland’s president, had previously indicated they’d turned down bids from Saudi Arabia.
Premier League pathway
Crystal Palace’s bid was accepted, though, because it can be used to demonstrate a pathway to the Premier League to other players.
“Crystal Palace wasn’t the only club interested in Osorio. There were plenty of suitors for Franculino and Aral Simsir as well,” explained Bak to Ekstra Bladet.
“For us, it is important to be able to demonstrate a pathway to the Premier League, the Bundesliga, or the Italian league, rather than, say, Saudi Arabia.
“Osorio could have earned more money in Saudi Arabia. And we probably could have secured a slightly higher fee for him. But it was more important to us that Osorio saw his dream fulfilled. And that we, as a club can send a player directly to the Premier League.”
He refused, though, to admit that the money on offer in Saudi was better for them.
“No, we’re keeping that strictly internal,” he added.
“I can’t say whether the figures were higher. But I can safely say there is certainly a lot of money in the Saudi league.”
