Sporting Club de Portugal president Federico Varandas is willing to talk to Arsenal and Viktor Gyökeres to stop the drama and get a deal done.
That’s according to Record, who report that Varandas is showing an ‘openness to dialogue’ after a week of transfer drama.
Gyökeres and his agent are seemingly determined to secure a move away from Sporting this summer. That’s led to a very public war of words over the situation this week, with the various parties making their stances clear.
In the middle of it all is Arsenal, who are keen to sign the Swedish striker to bolster their forward line. He has, similarly, made Arsenal his number one choice and even turned down Manchester United to do so.
The big sticking point is a reported agreement between Sporting and the striker to let him leave for below his €100m release clause. Record explain that any deal has to be €60m fixed at least for Sporting to accept. If that is offered and they reject it, his agent gets 10%.
Sporting would like €80m in total and there is an ‘openness to dialogue’ for an offer that would reach that, such as €70m plus €10m in objectives. Arsenal, so far, have offered €55m fixed plus €10m in objectives.
Sporting and Arsenal are talking, though, with Bernardo Palmeiro and Andrea Berta, the directors at both clubs, meeting in Menorca this week to discuss the striker.
The belief is that a new offer will arrive from the Gunners soon and hope that everything will be resolved quickly on terms that suit everyone. That ‘openness to dialogue’ is key, making talks easier than they might be given what has transpired already.
