Matias Fernandez close to signing for Sporting

Interest in Caicedo reignited by Manchester City player

Sporting and Villarreal appear close to reaching agreement for the transfer of highly-rated Chilean midfielder Matias Fernandez. Meanwhile, Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo said he would also like to join the Lions to have the chance to play Champions League football.

News broke last week that Sporting were chasing the former South American player of the year, Fernandez, who is on his way out of La Liga outfit Villarreal.

Israeli agent Pini Zahavi is overseeing negotiations between the two Iberian clubs. Sporting originally offered 4.5m euros plus 10% of any future transfer fee for the creative midfielder, but Villarreal want either more money or a higher percentage of the sell-on fee.

High earner

Fernandez has let it be known that he is extremely keen on making the move, even though it is likely to lead to a drop in his wages. His current salary is only matched by Sporting’s top two players, Joao Moutinho and Liedson, and the club are unlikely to offer him the same terms as two proven performers, at least in his initial contract.

But the Argentine-born Chilean is keen to kick-start his career after having failed to shine in Spain, and the Lisbon club are confident they can bring the best out of an undoubted talent.

Further up the pitch, the possibility of Sporting signing Ecuadorian striker Felipe Caicedo from Manchester City has been given a boost.

The asking price of 5m euros by the Premier League club appeared to rule Sporting out of the running, with West Ham thought to be the forward’s next destination.

Champions League incentive

However, the player himself is keen to make the move to Portugal happen. “The chance to play in the Champions League for Sporting is an extremely attractive proposition to me,” Caicedo told English paper the Daily Mirror yesterday.

One of the player’s representatives, Saife Rubie, is to fly into Lisbon to discuss the move with the Sporting board.

Moving out of the club are Montenegrin striker Purovic and Serbian goalkeeper Stojkovic. The misfits have long been out of the plans of coach Paul Bento. Purovic is lining up a move to Feyenoord while Red Star Belgrade are attempting to bring down Sporting’s asking price for Stojkovic.

by Tom Kundert