What was set to be one of the easiest sales in football history is turning out to be an utter shambles, thanks to the greed of one man, Frederico Varandas, president of Sporting CP.
You have to have been hiding under a football rock not to have read about the queue forming at Varandas’ door over the past 12 months or so to sign his goal machine striker, Viktor Gyokeres.
Such was the interest in January that Varandas was forced to sign a contract with the player’s agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, stating that if Gyokeres would agree to stay at the club until the end of the season, he would agree to sell him for €60 million plus €10 million in bonuses – a figure well below the player’s €100 million release clause.
This figure made the transfer a no-brainer and clubs like Arsenal and Man United started to jockey for his services. The Gunners even tried with a cheeky informal €55 million plus €10 million offer, which was instantly rejected.
At this point, greedy and dishonorable Varandas showed his true colours. He had no intention of sticking to his deal with Cetinkaya. He knew he had an asset worth at least €80 million. The wily fox had even calculated that it was worth reneging on the so-called “gentleman’s agreement”.
If he were to turn down an offer of €60m + €10m or more, he’d have to pay Cetinkaya 10% of the bid price. So, €6 million or so. Varandas clearly did his sums and figured that if he can get €80 million for Gyokeres, he can afford to pay the agent the €6m penalty and still pocket an extra €14m compared to what he would have received had he honoured the agreement.
The president must have been chuckling under his breath at his own Dick Dastardly-esque genius.
Except there is a problem.
Nobody is willing to pay €80 million It is looking increasingly likely that Varandas has badly miscalculated. Not only has he alienated the player, who is contemplating going on strike, but so far not a single offer has come in other than that initial €55m Arsenal bid.
Gyokeres clearly wants to play in the Premier League, so the race is between the Gunners and United, unless there is a surprise late entry from Liverpool or Chelsea. Arsenal are watching the pennies and in any event, may prefer RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, an alternative deal they are currently negotiating and a player whose asking price reportedly dropped this week.
As for United, they are highly unlikely to be able to afford €80 million and even if they were, there is the question of whether they want to be the consolation prize if Arsenal pull out.
Varandas is scrambling This morning’s paper edition of Portuguese outlet A Bola (page 10) suggests Varandas is beginning to learn the error of his ways and starting to panic. In fact, it screams of it. It is almost as if the president himself has written the article.
“Based on the data collected by A BOLA, bonuses are allowed,” the article states.
“If someone comes to Sporting’s management with €80 million, they can take the player anyway.
“If, for example, they only have €70 million right now, then they can try to reach the target by including realistic bonuses that allow Sporting to have some security that in the end they will sell the Swedish international’s pass for the amount they considered fair this summer.
“If someone comes with 80 million, they can take Gyokeres and there are no variables to talk about.”
In short, Mr “€80m and not a penny less” has dropped his price to €70m plus bonuses.
Given that 10% of any bid refused over €60m goes to Cetinkaya, then, effectively now a bid of €64 million plus bonuses from either Arsenal or United should seal the deal, because it would cost Varandas €6.4 million to reject it in order to reach €70 million. So he would be better off accepting €64 million than rejecting it.
What a tangled web we weave. Whether United or Arsenal test the waters with such a bid remains to be seen. If they do, it will be very interesting to see what Dick Dastardly does next.
Featured image Michael Campanella via Getty Images
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Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
