DONE DEAL Practically


TRANSFER TALK


Don Balón was a Spanish weekly sports magazine specialising in Spanish and international football. The magazine was published in Barcelona between 1975 and September 2011 when the magazine disappeared. It had been distributed in five continents before it then reemerged as an online news portal. Journalistically, therefore, it has some credibility although given the way newspapers operate today that isn't necessarily praise.

I tell you the background because they are running a story suggesting we are in advanced talks and very close to signing a player who has said he doesn't want to leave Atlético Madrid, Kévin Gameiro.

The 30-year-old (31 next May) is a light framed French international striker who is known to be clinical in the box. His statistics, as reported in a previous article, show he rarely shoots from outside the box.

On 30 July 2016, Atlético Madrid reached an agreement with Sevilla to purchase Gameiro on a four-year contract for a reported £27.94 million (€32m - AUS$48.02m - US$35.79m) rising to £34.93 million (€40m - AUS$60.03m - US$m) with add-ons. Those add-ons are obviously not going to come into force or not all of them anyway.

If this were the British press they would simply quote the higher figure, as they have done with Moussa Sissoko, Hugo Lloris, indeed virtually all players and fans would then assume we had made a loss selling a player for a seemingly lower figure. It is inaccurate reporting.

After just one season Kevin Gameiro is on sale Don Balon brazenly state, he has not lived up to expectations scoring 16 goals with a further 7 assists, a goal every 146 minutes and a direct hand in a goal every 103 minutes. 

They sat Diego Simeone has been trying to find a club for him and Tottenham is that destination, one Argentinian to another, Simeone to Pochettino. The fee around £26.24 million (€30m - AUS$45.02m - US$33.55m) which will presumably include add-ons if Daniel lLvy has anything to do with it.

I wrote yesterday about the Atlético situation and them waiting on having a transfer ban lifted by the end of June. The story makes it sound as if we are about to sign the striker but until their ban is overturned no player will be leaving so we will still have to wait on this one, despite Don Balon telling us a deal in expected within days.