Rangers face double-payment transfer fee demand after terms agreed for £400,000 Jefte signing
APOEL want a similar fee to what Rangers have agreed to pay Fluminense in order to release Jefte from his loan, according to the Daily Record.
Reporting on their website on 28 January the paper said that the Light Blues have already “hammered out terms” on a £400,000 deal with the Brazilian club to sign their young left-back, with an agreement also reached with the player himself on a three and a half year contract.
But sources in Cyprus have reportedly said that APOEL, where the “hotly-rated” 20-year-old has been on loan this term as his parent club looked to generate transfer interest, want money like that as well in order to cut his deal short.
That leaves the compensation fee as the only remaining “stumbling block” to the Brazilian joining Philippe Clement’s squad at Ibrox.
But despite this the Record reports that it should not be difficult to deal with the Cypriot club given they have already vowed to support Jefte’s “ambitions to play at the highest level possible”, having been blocked from signing him permanently themselves by a FIFA transfer ban as a result of debts.
Formality?
Unless APOEL are just chancing their arm there seems to be quite a big difference between insisting on the transfer fee being doubled and not being a major obstacle.
It would extremely frustrating for Clement if everything is ready to go with Fluminense only for the left-back addition he has been after this month to not arrive because his loan club have thrown a spanner into the works.
If there is no break clause in the deal that sent him to Europe in the summer then APOEL are technically entitled to hold onto him, even if it isn’t want Jefte wants.
A vow to support his progress would suggest that they aren’t minded to go against the youngster’s wishes, but requesting as much money to end a loan as his parent club is set to receive for a full transfer doesn’t tally with that.
There appears to be confidence that the full-back will be a Rangers player before the deadline but the situation looks like it could still be complicated.
Significant money has turned out to be available for Clement to strengthen during the midseason window, but it is surely unlikely that the Light Blues board would be delighted if they were obilged to double the fee for Jefte.
In other Rangers news, a first-team player is still at Auchenhowie despite the club having accepted a bid for him to leave already.
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