Aston Villa showed interest in Sporting’s Geny Catamo in the summer window.
Towards the final stage of the window, several claims from the Portuese media discussed the Villans’ desire to sign the 24-year-old.
The window has already closed, and today’s edition of A Bola reports why Aston Villa failed to acquire his signature.
Sporting received two approaches from Unai Emery’s side and Fenerbahçe for the winger, who can also operate as a wing-back.
Both the Villans and Fenerbahçe would have offered the Mozambique international wages ‘much higher’ than his current salary at Sporting.
It’s claimed the two clubs were willing to offer around €20m, without the report making it clear, whether that’s including or excluding bonuses.
The Lions showed willingness to sell him only for around €25-30m, with A Bola reporting their ideal fee would have been €25m plus €5m bonuses.
That didn’t happen and the Portuguese champions rejected approaches made by Emery’s side and the Turkish club. Aston Villa could have been successful if they had raised their proposal by €5-10m.
A Bola report Sporting have initiated contact to renew Catamo’s contract, which currently expires in 2028, and there’ll be more concrete negotiations later this month. They want to improve his salary, but not his €60m release clause.