Tuesday, 25th June, 2013
Sevilla have at last confirmed that star striker Alvaro Negredo has been subject to bids for a move away from the club, with "a foreign team" joining Atletico Madrid in the hunt, according to its president.
It is anyone’s guess as to who the "foreign team" might be, given that the 27-year-old has been chased by Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
Negredo, who became the club’s top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions, is almost certain to leave Sevilla this summer, with president Jose Maria del Nido confirming the forward’s intentions.
Del Nido was quoted by Marca as saying: "Negredo wants to leave, and that forces us into a bargaining situation. We already have one foot into the negotiations.
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"I have experience in this, and I know that it is not good to keep a player who wants to leave."
Negredo had set tongues wagging across Europe when he fired in four goals on a dramatic final day game against Valencia in La Liga, which Sevilla won 4-3.
The Spaniard joined Sevilla in 2009 and, while his contract runs until 2016, Del Nido is already resigned to losing him.
He added: "He has not set his hand on his heart to say he is going, but he has said that he wants to grow.
"There are two bids, one from Atletico and one from a foreign team, the identity of which we will not reveal. We will manage the operations and we know when to let go."
Negredo has previously expressed a desire to play in the Premier League, but Dortmund had muscled their way into the bidding war.
Negredo had been Dortmund’s idea of a Robert Lewandowski replacement, at a time when the latter was almost certainly going to Bayern Munich.
However, with Lewandowski now set for an additional year with Dortmund, it remains to be seen if the Champions League finalists will pull out of the race for Negredo.
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