On December 23rd, Eindhovens Dagblad reported Fulham were preparing a formal offer to sign PSV Eindhoven’s Ricardo Pepi in the winter market.
A fresh report from the same newspaper reports Fulham have already made a bid for the 22-year-old.
Eindhovens Dagblad have found out from multiple sources that Fulham’s proposal was worth around €30-35m. The Dutch club find this ‘too low’ and rejected it, also because they want to retain him.
Marco Silva’s side have ‘no choice but to return with a higher offer’ to see if PSV are open to doing business. ED claim it seems unlikely that PSV will let the American leave next month.
The Eredivisie side’s rejection hasn’t put Fulham off and they are refusing to give up. The London club are considering tabling a new offer, but there’s no knowledge of what level they’ll go to.
Pepi wasn’t part of the US squad for the September and October international breaks as he wasn’t a starter for PSV earlier this season. He needs regular minutes to feature at the World Cup.
The forward started and scored in his last four league matches to take his tally to 10 goals and two assists this season.
Fulham need to be wary of negotiating games
PSV want to retain the frontman for the second half of the season. They don’t have a financial need to sell him or anyone else. The newspaper claims the Eredivisie side are unlikely to sell unless a player’s clause is activated. That’s likely a negotiating stance pushed by the club’s local newspaper, something common in the Netherlands.
Pepi has a contract until 2030, and this puts PSV in a comfortable position to negotiate a potential sale in January.
Fulham, who are considering a new bid, have to overcome challenges to convince PSV to secure Pepi’s services. Whether they’ll be successful remains to be seen.
