West Ham have been linked with a move for Girona’s Cristian Portuguese ‘Portu’ Manzanera, but Director of Football Mario Husillos faces a race against time to complete a deal, as per Mundo Deportivo.
That’s because the daily Catalan Sports newspaper understand the 27-year-old is keen to tie up his future in the next week, as he is getting married at the end of the first week of June, after which he will be on his honeymoon.
Husillos will also have to get our name to the front of the queue before the attacking midfielder’s strict deadline, as sources close to the player have indicated that it is Real Sociedad who currently head the cluster of clubs chasing the Valencia product’s signature.
Mundo Deportivo claim as many as 13 sides have put forward their case to the Spaniard, including Sevilla, Brighton & Hove Albion and us, but it is the Txuri-Urdinak who presented the most convincing argument with the potential of a five-year contract.
However, the Anoeta natives face a race against time themselves, as they are struggling to raise the €10million (£8.8m) needed to trigger his release clause, and are attempting to negotiate with Girona a deal that would allow them to pay the fee in instalments.
If we are indeed interested in signing Portu, we would face less of a struggle to raise that sort of figure, but with reports of FC Barcelona looking for a figure in the region of £25m to £35million for top-target Andre Gomes, the picture instantly becomes more clouded.
There would also be question marks over where the 5 ft 8 midfielder would slot into Manuel Pellegrini’s plans beyond a back-up role for Manuel Lanzini, although he would be a superb acquisition for such a position.
In his 34 league games for Girona, as they dropped out of La Liga, Portu played in a variety of positions – including right-wing and as a second-striker – and returned the Estadi Montilivi fanbase nine goals, three assists.
