On Monday, we covered the latest from Portugal on Crystal Palace’s pursuit of Ousmane Diomande. Not an awful has happened since the end of last week when it was reported the Premier League club’s first offer would be around €40m.
Sources close to Sporting CP quickly made clear that wouldn’t be enough, and the offer wasn’t formally made. Since then it’s been a case of trying to work out how much the Lisbon club will accept.
Yesterday’s reports insisted Sporting aren’t that keen on selling the 21-year-old defender and will only wobble if offered €60m or more. That sounded like a negotiating position, and Tuesday sees more palatable claims for Crystal Palace.
A Bola report a minimum of €50m is needed, with Sporting trying to push that to €60m.
Record state Crystal Palace are ready to give the defender a €4m salary, an amount that would more than triple his current level. They then go on to say Sporting are sticking to the €60m, but crucially add ‘this can be achieved with objectives’.
Perhaps mistakingly, Record believe Crystal Palace ‘cannot afford to pay the amount demanded by Sporting’.
Reading between the lines, €50m plus bonuses is the trigger point.