Fabio Vieira already has personal terms in place for a permanent move to Hamburger SV, but the club want to pay less than half the sum they previously agreed with Arsenal.
German outlet Bild report that Hamburger SV already have a contract agreement in place with Fabio Vieira, should he complete a permanent transfer to the club this summer.
Vieira is currently on loan with HSV, but the club are exploring ways to keep him at the end of his one-season deal.
A second loan has been ruled out, and HSV also don’t want to pay the €20m purchase option in Vieira’s contract. Instead, the club are prepared to pay a ‘high single-digit million euro sum’.
In effect, HSV want to pay less than half the amount they agreed with Arsenal last summer.
Even the best-case scenario, where “high single-digit” means €9m, that would mean less than £8m heading to Arsenal for a 25-year-old on the back of a good loan in a top-five European league. As a reminder, Arsenal paid an initial £30m fee for Vieira to sign him from FC Porto.
Given Vieira’s Arsenal contract is running down, there’s no expectation the Gunners will get anything like that £30m fee back for his summer transfer. But a midfielder in double figures for goal contributions playing on loan with a Bundesliga club should be netting Arsenal at least half that amount.
Vieira notched his fifth goal contribution in eight Bundesliga matches on Saturday, scoring an audacious lob with the outside of his boot before celebrating with Bukayo Saka’s trademark shrug.
If HSV can’t afford to pay the asking price, Arsenal should start looking to entertain other potential buyers.