Southampton have caused a hold up in Flamengo’s pursuit of Carlos Alcaraz, by changing their demands in the middle of negotiations.
That’s according to Ge Globo, who report that after an agreement was reached worth €18m, Southampton started making different demands.
Flamengo had considered negotiations as closed and believed they could get Alcaraz, with a deal in place and everyone seemingly happy.
However, Southampton then surprising them this week by asking for the inclusion of youngster Victor Hugo in the deal of the payment of €25m for Alcaraz instead.
This came as a shock to Flamengo, who had already turned their attention to the second part of the negotiations, convincing Alcaraz into the move.
The Argentine is still not 100% convinced that returning to South America at this point would be the best step for his career after such little time spent in Europe. Thus, Flamengo have work to do on him.
Now they need to go back to the beginning as Southampton have changed their demands, despite sending positive signals earlier in negotiations.
Flamengo aren’t keen on the idea of including Hugo in the deal as they believe they’d be giving him away for free given there was a previous agreement for €18m. They have already rejected the proposal and at this point there is no clear path to a new agreement.
The Brazilian side value the youngster at €7m so there’s now work to be done to find a middle ground if a deal is to be done.