An extra 15 million, just like that
75 million euros. That is the figure anyone wanting to prise Georges Mikautadze away from Villarreal now has to put on the table.
The Georgian’s release clause had been set at €60m. It has now jumped to €75m for the final ten days of the transfer window, according to Marca. Fifteen million added with a stroke of a pen.
The Yellow Submarine signed the striker from Lyon last summer for €30m. A year later, they want two and a half times that back. Hard to argue with the maths.
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Barca are circling
This isn’t paranoia. FC Barcelona are still hunting for a centre-forward to plan for life after Robert Lewandowski, and Mikautadze’s name is among the options being studied.
No bid has come in yet. Villarreal know that. They also know things can turn on their head in 48 hours.
Iñigo Perez put it his own way before the match against Racing: “The market moves at its own pace, and it speeds up whenever it wants.” Fairly hard to misread that.
The Yeremy Pino lesson
Villarreal have seen this movie before. Last summer, Yeremy Pino’s move to Crystal Palace was completed in the final days of the window.
The cash brought in was immediately used to sign Mikautadze from Lyon. So the Spanish club know exactly how this works, because they’ve done it themselves.
This time, the sporting department would rather set the terms before the phone starts ringing. Keep their striker on their terms, or cash in at 75 million. The question is whether anyone will actually be willing to pay that kind of fee for a striker who arrived from Ligue 1 just 12 months ago.
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