By now, Hulk should have been in London playing for Chelsea, but Porto just want move or budge from their release clause, wanting an astronomicalĀ ā¬70 million for the Brazilian striker, which, understandably, as put off all potential suitors at the moment.
It was about a month ago that a deal between the Portuguese champions and the European champions was on the verge of being struck. Porto did talk about wanting the full release clause amount (80 million, doesn’t really matter what currency) but it seemed that Chelsea’s bid forĀ Ā£32 million would have been enough.
A month later, and Hulk is frustrated, still with Porto. He’ll be playing with Brazil in the 2012Ā OlympicsĀ in London, but he’d rather be in LondonĀ permanently. Hulk and his group of adviosrs will have a meeting this week with the Porto executives in an attempt to move the club for their outrageous transfer demands. There are plenty of clubs besidesĀ ChelseaĀ interested in retaining the man’s services, but no one is mad enough to spend that kind of money on someone not called Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
And Hulk, despite all of his qualities, which mostly consist of an incredibly powerful long range shot, is not Messi/Ronaldo. He scored, but not like that. He’s been rather productive the last couple of seasons, leading Porto to two league titles and one Europa League trophy, scoring 57 goals along with 36 assists in 91 matches for the club. Highly efficient, but not worth the sum that Porto are asking for.
It’s not even a case of making a profit on Hulk, who cost the clubĀ ā¬5.5 million when he came over from Japan back in 2008. There were rumors last season thatĀ Anzhi Makhachkala, owned by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, might make an offer that will meet Porto’s release clause demands for Hulk, but that never transpired. Maybe the ownership are still waiting for the Russian club to renew its interest, but I think that even Kerimov isn’t desperate enough to land a player who hasn’t proved he’s part of the upperĀ echelonĀ of footballers.
After payingĀ Ā£50 million for Fernando Torres, Chelsea won’t be trying to set new records. Eden Hazard came over forĀ Ā£32 million from Lille, and it’s hard seeing Chelsea beating that sum for a player that’s 5 years older than Hazard. They’ve also purchased Mark Marin from Werder Bremen forĀ Ā£6.5 million. Fernando Torres, is you remember well or not, was promised and assured he’ll be Chelsea’s main striker next season, but if Hulk comes in carrying a hefty price tag, who knows how solid those promises will turn out to be.