I had heard a short while back that Baldini was due to fly into Valencia yesterday, but being the pessimist on transfer’s I choose to state that there were surprises to follow. Chadli was first and now it seems as if a deal for Soldado will be agreed.
The word is that we will trigger the release clause, but a small portion (believed to be around £4million) will in fact be add-on's (so a total of £26million).
As I had stated we have been in talks with Valencia for some time and this is not a sudden kneejerk reaction to reports of interest from Liverpool, it is actually that we are making head way in our talks.
Djukic (Valencia's coach) had said that he expected Soldado to stay, but it was in fact based on his opinion that no one would meet the release clause.
"I do not believe that any club will pay Soldado's buy-out clause, what I think is that he will stay with us, although I cannot guarantee anything. In football and in life you have to be prepared for anything.
"We all want him to stay and we think that he will, but it is possible that someone could actually meet that buy-out clause even I do not think that will happen.
"For now, he is our player and we are counting on him.
"Since the start we have said that Soldado is not for sale and that the only way that he could leave is if someone meets the buy-out clause amount and the player accepts it."
But as I had been told Soldado was our actual target (so again things are falling into place). The Villa deal had broken down following the positive talks with Soldado's agent. The Benteke story was true, however it was a backup for Soldado. Once it became apparent that Villa wanted over £20million all efforts were put into the Soldado deal.
AVB has also confirmed the interest and has said;
"At the moment, he's just one of the players we are interested in," said Villas-Boas at a press conference in Hong Kong.
"It's not a lie to anybody that we've been looking for a striker to strengthen our squad and to have more strength in depth.
"Roberto is one of the players we have been following and his career speaks for itself. He's a great striker.
"But there isn't a deal being struck at the moment, it's just interest and conversations."
So there you have it confirmation of it all. It is now where Baldini's appointment will become apparent, if he is successful in negotiating this deal then the wait for him was right.
I am happy that all the chatter was right and although I am happy I will not be truly happy until a deal is confirmed.
To those that are cautious of Levy I say this;
He has made mistakes and will do in the future, but at the moment he is doing his best to rectify his past errors.
Its not that I trust Levy that I like him or not, it's that I love my club and all coming out about our striker chase is great.
COYS!!!
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