One of the never ending transfer sagas this summer is that of Angel di Maria, “stuck” between Real Madrid and PSG. A way to resolve it? Selling Ezequiel Lavezzi to the interested Liverpool, and by that freeing up enough money to sign the other Argentinian, who at the moment seems to cost a bit too much for the French champions.
Well, that’s not exactly true. Real Madrid want something in the region of €50-60 million for Di Maria, who has been probably Real Madrid’s second best performer behind Cristiano Ronaldo since joining Real Madrid in 2010, and had a very good World Cup until an injury kept him out from the final two matches. PSG obviously can afford that sum, but they’ll have an issue with the Financial Fair Play regulations.
PSG have signed David Luiz from Chelsea for the sum of £43.5 million. They haven’t made any significant sales this summer, which means that before spending some more money, something has to come into the bank account that has nothing to do with the Qatari money or their fake sponsors. Lavezzi, over the last two seasons, has played in 60 league matches and has scored 12 goals. While he has been quite useful in providing something else a bit wide and behind the main strikers, he isn’t a favorite of Blanc or the ownership.
So are Liverpool the saviors for PSG? Depends on the price. It seems there’s a unilateral agreement that having Daniel Sturridge and Rickie Lambert isn’t enough for Liverpool and their ambitions when it comes to next season. Lavezzi isn’t exactly a scorer, but he is certainly a figure that deserves attentions. His fantastic dribbling skills and passing abilities might not create goals for him, but they certainly help others like Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic get on the scoresheet.
The price PSG are asking for – €35 million, is going to be a problem. Liverpool have been operating under loss in recent years. Nothing that will trouble them in the acceptance back into the Champions League, but that kind of spending without selling players is going to be cutting it pretty thin as far as the Financial regulations are concerned. Lavezzi, at 29, is probably worth a lot less than what PSG are trying to get for him.
Monaco are also a side in this, hoping that the Di Maria plan doesn’t work out so they can sign him from Real Madrid. It’s hard to see how Monaco are fitting in with the whole financial limitations thing considering their revenues are probably one of the smallest among teams heading into the Champions League next season, but so far no one has stopped them from spending a lot of money. Selling James Rodriguez to Real Madrid helped out quite a bit as well.