Ipswich Town, Manchester United and Aston Villa have all been linked with Orlando Gill after his outstanding World Cup campaign. But it looks like Olympiacos have took pole position and made the first concrete move for the Paraguay goalkeeper.
Gill was one of the breakout stars of the tournament in North America. His performances for Gustavo Alfaro’s side put him on the radar of a lot of clubs across Europe.
Reports in Argentina recently named Ipswich, United and Villa among the clubs following his progress. While the goalkeeper himself admitted there was interest, no formal offers had arrived… yet.
Now, Argentine journalist Germán García Grova reports Olympiacos have submitted an offer for the 26-year-old. It is the first club to take a concrete step after weeks of transfer speculation.
Olympiacos make their move
According to García Grova, the Greek champions want to buy 100% of Gill’s rights.
San Lorenzo, though, are standing their ground. The Argentine club want the full value of the goalkeeper’s release clause, set at US$7m – around €6m (£5.2m).
There’s a simple reason for that stance. San Lorenzo own only 50% of Gill’s economic rights, so accepting less than the release clause would further reduce the amount they receive from any deal. After the World Cup he has just had, they see little reason to lower their demands.
Gill has become the club’s biggest asset at a time when San Lorenzo continue to deal with serious financial problems, making a sale increasingly likely if the right offer arrives.
Of course Olympiacos are owned by Evangelos Marinakis, who also controls Nottingham Forest, and the Greek and English clubs have regularly worked together in the transfer market.
There is nothing to suggest Gill is being signed with a move to Forest in mind. Even so, after Ipswich, United and Villa were all linked with the Paraguay international, this could be the beginning of the keeper’s path to England.
Gill himself also addressed the speculation after returning from the tournament, revealing he had been told there was genuine interest from Europe, but stressing there had still been no official proposals at that point.
Olympiacos have now changed that, and appear to have moved ahead of the Premier League clubs.