It’s been known for a while that Manchester United just needs to hash out the details with Thiago Alcantara and the move is complete.
One of those details is apparently keeping the whole deal on hold.
According to Graham Hunter, a Sky Sports correspondent in Spain, Thiago and his camp are demanding United include the same clause in his contract that lowered his release with Barcelona to a staggering amount.
Originally with a £77 million ($117 million) release clause, Thiago’s contract with Barcelona contained a clause in fine-print that required a certain amount of playing time. With the playing time not met, his release clause plummeted to a measly £17 million ($25.9 million).
With United believed to have triggered Thiago’s now insanely low release clause, they are far and away the leaders in the chase for Thiago. David Moyes was willing to pay that amount in a heartbeat - as he should - for the 21-year-old midfielder.
Hunter claims that Thiago wishes this be the case at United as well, to ensure playing time to continue his growth as a player.
#Thiago's dad and his agent would like any contract at #United to include the same clause as he is currently using at #Barca
— Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) June 28, 2013
Graham continues to tweet that Thiago has a very close relationship with the Dos Santos family, and that the Brazilian youngster is heavily influenced by Gio Dos Santos’s story at Tottenham Hotspur. The Mexican made just 15 appearances with Spurs over the course of a 4-year stint at White Hart Lane, being loaned out to Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, and Racing Santander.
Thiago appears to be very affected by this, and therefore wants to somehow guarantee playing minutes. Manchester United so far are unwilling to give in to the demand, or else there would be no story really.
In a transfer that honestly seemed like a foregone conclusion a week ago, this one little hiccup could potentially throw things out of whack.