Hamburg want Fabio Vieira back after a productive loan, but their current limit is around half the €20m option.
Hamburg will only pay up to around half the agreed option fee for Fábio Vieira, leaving Arsenal with little reason to rush into a sale.
When Arsenal loaned Vieira to Hamburg, the agreement included an option to buy for around €20 million.
That figure always looked ambitious for a club whose record transfer outlay stands at €14 million and who have paid €10 million or more for a player only four times.
Still, it was the number built into the deal, and Arsenal are not prepared to accept Hamburg’s current position.
Vieira finished his season on loan as Hamburg’s leading scorer with seven goals and although the 26-year-old missed out on Portugal’s World Cup squad, he is understood to be keen to return to the Bundesliga side, where he was given a prominent role.
The problem is the fee.
Hamburg are reportedly only able to pay close to €10 million, and even then in instalments.
That is roughly half the option agreed in the loan deal, well short of Vieira’s current €18 million valuation and a long way below the €35 million Arsenal paid to sign him in 2022.
According to Bild, both clubs were working towards a permanent transfer in June, but no agreement was close.
Vieira had hoped to report for Hamburg’s pre-season performance tests on July 6 and 7, rather than wait for Arsenal’s preparations, which begin later.
In the meantime, he has been working with a private trainer at the Boost Campus run by former professional Claudio Borges.
Now that we are in to July, Kathleen Krüger, Hamburg’s head of sport, has made the German club’s position clear. “The price being quoted is not realistic for us,” she said of a possible transfer.
That has reduced the chances of Vieira returning, even though sporting director Claus Costa is still trying to work on a solution with Arsenal. There has recently been less contact between the clubs, largely because the issue is not a priority for the Premier League champions.
Arsenal are said to believe that, over the course of the window, a club will offer €20 million plus add-ons for Vieira. Hamburg are hoping the opposite, that no such offer arrives and Arsenal eventually lower their demands.
So, for now, the situation has stalled.
According to Bergedorfer Zeitung, HSV’s current upper limit is just under €10 million. The club will not go higher because they do not want to restrict themselves financially while pursuing other targets.
That leaves Arsenal in control. A fee in the high single-digit millions is not enough, particularly when Vieira has rebuilt some of his value thanks to his productive loan and there are rumours of Premier League interest.
The situation could change in August if no club comes forward with an offer above €10 million, which is Hamburg’s hope.
Until then, Arsenal can wait.
For Arsenal, the calculation is simple. Hamburg want a player who delivered for them, but only at around 50 per cent of the agreed option fee. Unless that changes, or no better market emerges, there is no need for Arsenal to accept a cut-price deal.
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