Good afternoon, West Ham fans. This is the Monday William Carvalho round-up, and it’s very possible it could be one of our last stories about the Portuguese midfielder.
His departure to West Ham United is all over the Portuguese media today, and once again, we’ll have to separate the info so you can understand what each local newspaper is saying.
Starting off with O Jogo, it’s claimed that until they were closing their Monday edition, the clubs were still talking and getting close to a deal. Sporting are so confident that they are already looking for a replacement, and there’s still a chance that Carvalho could travel to have his medical in London on Monday.
West Ham’s offer would be €37m to be paid over two years, plus bonuses, leaving a future percentage of a sale for Sporting. That makes the entire amount close to the €45m release clause the player has.
Newspaper Record has it slightly different, but still similar info. They claim West Ham’s last offer of €32m plus something between €5m and €10m in bonuses was not enough. Sporting demand €35m plus €5m in bonuses, plus 10 or 15 percent of a future sale.
The Hammers are unlikely to match the offer, but are still capable of convincing the Lisbon side. That would allow the player to fly to England in the ‘next week’.
Now we’re off to Correio da Manhã, who claims that Sporting are delaying the sale because of the game against Steaua Bucharest. Carvalho is suspended for tomorrow’s match, but the club will only let him go if they get a comfortable win. Otherwise, the player could be needed for the second leg in Romania.
Jornal de Notícias treats the deal as ‘imminent’ and ‘pratically done’, but claims Sporting are still to accept West Ham’s offer. So despite the confidence that an agreement can be reached, the transfer is still not official.
Diário de Notícias claims that things have developed so much that it seems there are no chances of a kickback. The player could even be flying to England today, although a source said the deal isn’t done “yet”.
Finally, making opposition to all of them, there is A Bola. They claim things haven’t advanced, with West Ham not willing to raise their bid, which makes the possibilities of a battle grow. And that battle would be with Arsenal, who could show up making an offer and scupper the deal, which sounds pretty strange to us.
Arsenal have been linked to Carvalho since 2013, so we find it unlikely that their bid would arrive in the player’s last days at the club.
A Bola claims their sources said the player isn’t set to fly to London, and will only get authorisation to do so once the deal is done.
