Fulham have made several attempts to sign PSV Eindhoven’s Ricardo Pepi in this calendar year.
The Premier League side made multiple offers in the winter market by PSV did entertain any of them for various reasons.
Fulham still didn’t give up and made concrete advances to secure his services in recent weeks. Their plan was to agree a deal with the Dutch club for the striker to arrive in the summer.
On March 17th, Sport Witness covered claims from the Netherlands than Fulham and PSV reached an agreement for a €40m deal.
The 23-year-old made a trip to London to carry out medical tests with Fulham and then returned to his club. Despite all this, the operation collapsed on one key aspect.
Marco Silva’s side wanted to call off the deal if Pepi were to suffer a serious injury this season. The Dutch club didn’t agree to this and the deal collapsed. PSV technical director Earnest Stewart insists the Fulham transfer could still go through.
After the Eredivisie side secured the title earlier this month, the American said he could continue beyond this season.
Issues not just between PSV and Fulham
Journalist Jeroen Kapteijns covers PSV Eindhoven for De Telegraaf and reports of another key factor in the operation. He discusses this case for the newspaper and PSV Inside have relayed his comments.
The Dutch club were left unhappy that Ricardo Pepi’s transfer to Marco Silva’s side didn’t go through.
“They thought it was a real shame that the Pepi deal fell through, because then they would have had that money right away, the €40m or so, at an early stage,” he said.
“And they already have something else in mind; they could have done that right away. Now they have to wait until a major transfer happens before they can move forward with certain things again.”
Another De Telegraaf journalist, Mike Verweij, insists Fulham could return again in the next window.
When responding to that, his colleague reports there were also issues between Pepi and the London club.
“I wouldn’t rule it out entirely, were it not for the fact that there were some issues between Pepi and Fulham that weren’t going so well, or whether Pepi would even want to go that route anymore, I don’t know,” Kapteijns explained.
Our take: Summer deal more challenging for Fulham
If Fulham were to return for Ricardo Pepi, they not only have to convince PSV but also the player.
It isn’t clear about the issues that the American had with the London club. Either way, now Fulham have to sort this and also find a fresh agreement with the Dutch club. The task for a potential signing became more complicated.