The end of Monday’s Portuguese reporting on Viktor Gyökeres to Arsenal saw A Bola report everything was swimming along quite nicely and there could even be a positive update before the day was out.
Well, in this transfer box-set that was obviously an outcome too simple for the scriptwriters, and therefore we have Tuesday’s edition of Record to add some more drama and strife.
Record report that just as everything appeared to be reaching a peaceful conclusion, ‘the talks reached a dead end yesterday and, as of this edition’s press time, were at risk of collapsing completely’.
Among other things, there’s a ‘profound disagreement’ between Arsenal and Sporting on how the €10m in bonus payments is made up. The Lisbon club want all of that amount to be reasonable and clearly don’t think what the Gunners have proposed so far is.
Record explain different sources are telling them different specifics regarding those bonus arguments, with those sources likely being the Portuguese club and the player’s camp, but essentially it’s the same outcome… the bonuses are a problem.
Club sources appear to be saying only €3m of the bonuses are easily achievable, whereas player camp sources have it at €5m.
There’s even mention of the negotiations potentially collapsing, which surely, even in this soap opera of a transfer, can’t happen.
O Jogo and A Bola also go with the €3m figure, and state Sporting rejected the proposal from Arsenal.
A Bola add that talks haven’t broken down at this stage, but there’s some amount of friction after weeks of Gyökeres drama between the two parties and agents.
To conclude, Arsenal’s latest proposal has been rejected because Sporting don’t think the majority of the bonus triggers are easily achievable.
For weeks, we’ve been making it clear Sporting wouldn’t accept fanciful bonuses. The club’s president Federico Varandas publicly mocked Tottenham Hotspur after they tried to sign Bruno Fernandes via bonuses based on winning the Premier League and Champions League.
There was never any way Arsenal could succeed with a bunch of bonuses which were based on Gyökeres replicating Harry Kane’s Premier League goalscoring, firing the Gunners to a treble, and winning the Ballon d’Or.
The club didn’t need to wait until mid July to try that and find out.