Ousmane Diomande’s €80m release clause at Sporting Club de Portugal has scared off Crystal Palace for the time being.
That’s according to Record. They report on the defender’s new deal at the Portuguese club today, which has had the desired effect.
Sporting confirmed a new deal for Diomande this week. That had been in offing for weeks but was delayed due to the Africa Cup of Nations.
That new deal has seen the defender enter the top five highest paid players in the club. His release clause remained unchanged, set at €80m.
That’s a high value but has already proven to be sufficient enough to ‘ward off’ Crystal Palace. They were interested last summer but sent packing by the demands. He could have been a target again now that Marc Guehi has departed.
Reports last month certainly indicated as much. They still had Crystal Palace hovering ahead of the January transfer window. That €80m release clause, though, continues to be a problem.
The reality is that they are very unlikely to ever need to pay that. Portuguese clubs love a big release clause but are often open to negotiating for much lower. In most cases, it’s only a starting figure from which to negotiate downwards.
Whether that proves to be the case with Diomande, remains to be seen. For now, a new deal with that clause reinforced certainly gives them a strong negotiating position.
