Linked to AC Milan in this article. There is even a picture of him in the newspaper clipping so must be true. http://sportwitness.co.uk/gerard-deuolofeu-club-make-attempt-sign-watford-player-deadline/
The Italian press continue to speculate about Deulofeu wanting out: http://sportwitness.co.uk/watford-player-gladly-take-plane-leave-club-situation-complicated/
No way that is happening. The only scenario in which I could possibly imagine us selling would be if Gerard wanted to move for family reasons, thus to Spain. And even then, he spent 6 months on loan here, then signed a 5 year deal - why would he then decide after another 6 months that he wants to leave? It would have to be for silly money too, certainly not a loan deal.
Junk rumour merchant Di Marzio reckons they've offered to loan him until the end of the season with an option to buy for €25m. We've apparently said we'll take the cash now thanks. https://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/milan-new-contacts-for-deulofeu-but-watford-still-resisting If this is true - and it's likely not - how incoherent is Milan's transfer strategy? They had the bloke on loan but didn't take their option and let him go. Then he came here on loan and was up for grabs again last summer but they didn't bid. Yet now 6 months later they're trying to interfere with what we're building and to distract the player. We really should tell them to push off but I guess it's all down to whether Deulofeu is interested or not.
if anyone was unlikely to be here for more than a few months it's him, there's no point in getting attached to players like him. While I think he's been largely gash on the pitch, he's by far and away the biggest "star name" in our team and will attract players of a similar standing. For this reason, I hope we keep the moody git.
He's going nowhere, but nor is Cornet. Adam LeventhalVerified account @AdamLeventhal 5m5 minutes ago #WatfordFC transfer update Cornet deal looking distant with sources suggesting he has decided to stay at Lyon. I understand club open to sale for fee in region of £25m but down to player to chose & may lead to Summer reappraisal Re Deulofeu to AC Milan for £25m - not happening It's no surprise we would say a firm "no chance" message to this. The bid comes in this late, so Watford would have no time in finding a viable replacement. £25m? Would we really sell for that? Consider we got him to £11.5m, plus add-ons reported to be £3.5m. You can bet your life that Barcelona inserted a hefty sell on clause, so Watford would not really make too much on a deal like that. It's not a wow offer, and Gerry only signed for 5 years in August. Of course I'm sure he's interested, but AC Milan will still be there in the summer if he wants to go.
The Italian media have completely made this one up, probably based on one instagram comment from a Milan fan saying "please come back" with a red and black heart emoji. In fact 99% of news stories are based on similar...
With all respect, unless someone from either club says something regarding a deal, its easy to label everything as 'fake news'. But there are a few journalists who say things with more authority than others. In this instance, the original story came from Di Marzio on Twitter and he is one of the better ones so I tend to think this may have had an element of truth about it...
There's a rumour doing the rounds that an AC Milan bigwig flew over to make an offer in person of loan + option to buy for €12m, and was laughed all the way back to his private jet. Probably as true as the transfer rumour itself, but an amusing thought nonetheless. It probably doesn't need saying at this point, but the Pozzos are not stupid. I'm sure they recognise that Deulofeu had no pre-season, struggled with injuries for the first 10 games or so, and we have not seen his best form as a result. It's near enough the same situation we had with Pereyra, a player who many fans had written off this time last year. If Deulofeu stays fit, and completes a full pre-season, he could be worth triple what we paid for him by next Jan. From a business point of view, it wouldn't make sense to sell now.
Yeah totally, he's already made 7(?) moves in his career at the age of 24, if you count the loans. Why not go for 8? Would be bizarre though, a few months into a 5 year deal. Not like our previous employees have form...
Even though we've given a firm hands off message, the stories still come thick and fast. Now there's talk of journeyman Fabio Borini being included in the deal. We certainly would be downgrading if we took that deal. http://sportwitness.co.uk/club-try-...-deal-watford-star-attempt-lower-e25m-demand/
I think you look if hard enough there is a story that links them with a deal offering more or less every fringe player they have somewhere! Only one that is tempting in any way would be Hakan Calhanoglu but that's very unlikely! Todays Gazzetta della Sport is saying that they aren't giving up but the only way we will do business is if there is an obligation to buy included, a big initial loan fee and that the deal has to be wrapped up by end of today to allow us 48hrs to get a replacement. Seems VERY unlikely to me. I know it's silly - but I really hope we don't do something stupid like let him go on loan with the obligation that they pay £25m. And then we convince Cornet to come now for the same money.
WD18 @WD18fans 4m4 minutes ago Watford/Milan have agreed a loan deal for GD. However, Watford want there to be an obligation to buy for €25m at end of loan. Leonardo Araújo (sporting director) wants to include Fabio Borini in the deal to lower price, but Watford aren't interested. [@sole24ore]
I like Deulofeu and think he's a very good player, different to pretty much anyone else we have in the squad, but I definitely get the feeling that he's not going to be here for the long term. Would be pretty gutted if he was to go in this window, however. In the summer, when we have more time to find a replacement, and also Lukebakio coming back who's looked so good in the Bundesliga... I can see that happening.
Deulofeu had probably the best period of his career to date at Milan - prolonged period of form and international recognition. I could understand if he's interested but to leave so soon after he joined would be massively disappointing and there's little about this deal so far that makes it attractive enough or tempting to sell IMO as a supporter. But if its true, we just don't know how much the player is pushing for the deal behind the scenes. Gino also probably has decent relations with Milan which would likely encourage them to keep pushing for a deal. Plus Gino is a businessman - £25m is near enough double what we paid in just 6 months and his inconsistencies might mean Gino doubts he'll ever be worth much more. I really hope it doesn't happen unless we have something even better lined up but I don't think its impossible that we could be considering it.
