Sunderland have returned to Sporting Club de Portugal to try and sign Geny Catamo, with a €40m deal in the pipeline.
Record, A Bola and O Jogo all cover the situation in their print editions today. Each newspaper insists that the 25-year-old is firmly on Sunderland’s radar once again.
€30m plus €10m bid
Record kick things off, reporting that Geny Catamo is attracting significant interest this summer. He has already been the subject of several approaches from Sunderland.
The Black Cats have now identified the winger as a priority signing and are preparing a new, ‘massive’ bid. An offer of €30m plus €10m in performance-based add-ons was submitted and rejected. That’s because only €1.5m of the €10m was considered easily achievable.
Sporting’s president will only agree to sit down to negotiate if the offer starts at a fixed fee of €40m. Sunderland are unperturbed.
They have planned a new round of talks to negotiate a €40m fixed fee plus variables worth €8m. The plan is to move late in the window to stop Sporting being able to negotiate.
Sunderland ‘not giving up’
A Bola, meanwhile, report that Sunderland are ‘not giving up’ on signing Catamo this summer. After seeing Sporting reject their initial proposal, they are now preparing to make a ‘renewed push’.
According to their information, Sunderland plan to increase their offer to a minimum of €35m, including achievable bonuses. They do not intend to go beyond €40m. However, it is unlikely that Catamo would leave Sporting for that figure.
Sunderland are confident that they can get their man. They have already made enquiries about a work permit. And they are offering a financial package that would see the 25-year-old quintuple his salary to €3m net per year.
They have to convince Sporting into a deal and soon. The Portuguese club would demand Catamo’s €60m release clause be met during the final week of the window.
Sunderland offer improving
O Jogo state that Sunderland’s offer for Geny Catamo is €33m plus €7m in performance-based add-ons. Sporting are aiming for a fixed fee of €40m. They have already rejected Sunderland’s first approach, worth €30m plus €10m in performance-based add-ons.
Catamo is open to leaving the Lions because he feels there is a ‘financial disconnect’ between his earnings at the Portuguese club and his actual output.
The winger now believes that the time has come to make the leap to a more competitive league, the Premier League, and secure the ‘contract of a lifetime’. He is unhappy with the Sporting’s repeated rejections of interest from England and Italy.
“He also wants to seize the opportunity, because in football, it’s all about the moment,” remarked Chiquinho Conde, a Mozambican coach, in a recent interview with Antena 1.
“This is bound to be playing on his mind. Honestly, I think Sporting will have to let him go sooner or later, provided it makes sense for the club’s own structure.
“I imagine he’s going through a time of great anxiety, too. I think it’s time for him to try his hand in different leagues; he’s already given a lot to Sporting.”
