Barcelona close to deal for Argentine Palacio
Barcelona are close to sealing a deal for Argentine international
striker Rodrigo Palacio. The 25-year-old has been tracked for
months and Barca have now agreed a fee with his club Boca Juniors
for a reported 22million (£14.9million).
The player is one of the most highly-rated players in South
America, although there is a stumbling block in the deal as Barca
insist they will only deal with Boca Juniors - who own a majority
32.5 per cent stake in the player.
Boca must now negotiate with the other shareholders involved with
Palacio - his former clubs Huracan and Banfield, and his agent Juan
Paladino.
'We have reached to an agreement with Barcelona for transferring
him in July,' Boca vice-president Pedro Pompilio told Radio
Mitre.
'But Barcelona has said to us that the condition for doing the
transfer is that they want to negotiate only with us, so we have to
get in touch with Huracan, Banfield and the agent Juan Paladino
because they are the owners of the rest of the percentage of the
player.
'We have been in negotiations with Huracan for many months but we
haven't reached a financial agreement because they want much more
than the $2.5 million that we have offered to them.
'As they have been relegated to a lower division now they want more
money than what we had agreed sometime ago.
'The same happens with Paladino. The only ones with whom we don't
have any problem is with Banfield because they have a little
percentage and they are ok with what we do with the player.'
He added: 'I expect to have all these negotiations resolved as soon
as possible because it's a good financial offer for everyone and if
we don't reach to an agreement, Barcelona isn't going to wait a
long time, they will go out and buy another player. That's what we
are trying to make the other parts involved to
understand.'
