Transfers | athletic club
Christophe Galtier pressures his club to resolve the departure of the midfielder as soon as possible, whose negotiations with Athletic are very advanced
Ander Herrera (Bilbao, turned 33 on August 14) and Paris Saint Germain have been negotiating for days the termination of the contract that links the midfielder with the French entity until 2024 in exchange for six million euros net per year. The agreement is “imminent”, according to L’Équipe. Athletic is very attentive to the conversations. As soon as they conclude, there will be no impediment to seal the return of the player, with whom Jon Uriarte’s board of directors has practically finalized an agreement.
All the pieces fit. PSG wants to get rid of the player -whom they train apart from the squad-, Herrera has indicated to Athletic that his priority is to return to the club he left in 2014 and Jon Uriarte wants to strengthen the team with the footballer who arrived in 2011 from the Saragossa.
The negotiations in Paris are advancing, but they are not finished. There’s big money at stake. Herrera has 16 million net pending collection, twelve for his two-year contract and four more for 40% of the signing bonus agreed when he arrived for free from Manchester.
No to other offers
The sources close to the talks consulted yesterday by this newspaper trust that they will be closed this week. Athletic has found itself in the last few hours with an unexpected ally, Christophe Galtier. According to L’Equipe, the coach is pressuring Antero Henrique, sports director, to finally unblock the situation of Herrera and the other players who have been left out and whom the French press calls The Undesirables. They are Draxler, Icardi, Gueye and Diallo. Kehrer is the only one who has left, heading to West Ham. The coach complains that as long as they continue, the club cannot go to the market for new reinforcements. In addition, his presence clouds the atmosphere because the rest of the players do not like to see teammates marginalized.
Meanwhile, Athletic observes the Herrera-PSG negotiations with the conviction that they are their last obstacle to strengthen themselves with the midfielder. Herrera did not want to listen to other proposals. Athletic is his priority as soon as he leaves PSG, as he communicated to the Atletico leaders.
The two parties have very finalized the contract they will sign, but there are still issues to be elucidated. One of them is its duration. As this newspaper indicated, there are three options, two seasons, two plus one for objectives or three.