Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona have reached a final agreement to complete the transfer of Spanish forward Ferran Torres to the Parc des Princes.
According to Spanish newspaper “Sport”, Barcelona opened by demanding around 60 million euros. After gruelling negotiations, they settled for a figure approaching the 50 million the Parisian club put on the table as a final offer.
PSG had wanted to pay 40 million at most and threatened to walk away, insisting they had already sorted out the player’s future and that he would leave for free after a single year.
Pride kept the Parisian club from touching the 50 million mark, even after banking 159 million euros in sales this summer.
The newspaper pointed out that PSG knew exactly how badly Barcelona needed to sell, and how much they controlled the player’s future. So they held firm, delivering a final offer that landed in Barcelona on Wednesday with certain details attached.
That offer bundled in variables that eventually became fixed amounts, but with an intriguing condition: the total must not reach 50 million euros, even if the final sum comes very close.
Barcelona signed off on the deal as a good piece of business. The savings on the player’s wages, the income and the net profit from his exit all made sense, and this sale is decisive for registering the new signings they have made so far this summer.
From the outset, the Catalan club knew the talks would be tricky once they decided to sell Torres, a player Hansi Flick never viewed as a strategic option.
Hopes remained that PSG would throw everything at closing the deal as quickly as possible. Yet the management in Paris has changed considerably since Luis Campos took over the sporting directorate.
PSG’s challenge now is to end the transfer window in the black. They are chasing every possible saving and driving a hard bargain on prices, with the days of lavish spending over as the club submits to strict Financial Fair Play scrutiny.