FC Porto threatens to lose two key players in January. Sérgio Oliveira is close to a temporary transfer to AS Roma, which will negotiate an option to buy in a lease agreement. At the same time, there are sounds from England about Liverpool’s concrete interest in Luis Díaz, for whom the Reds would have a significant amount.
It was previously reported that Ainsley Maitland-Niles is about to exchange Arsenal for AS Roma. Jose Mourinho would like to further strengthen his midfield with Oliveira. The 29-year-old midfielder was trained by FC Porto and had trips to Beira-Mar, KV Mechelen, Penafiel, Paços Ferreira, FC Nantes and PAOK Saloniki, but has been an important player in the team of the Portuguese top club in recent years. The thirteen-time Portuguese international has so far played 174 games in the FC Porto shirt, in which he was good for 39 goals and 24 assists.
Oliveira still has a contract until mid-2025, but does not appear to be able to fulfill that commitment. According to transfer market expert Fabrizio Romano, AS Roma is confident that an agreement can be reached on Oliveira soon. SIC Noticias even FC Porto and AS Roma already agree. AS Roma pay one and a half million euros to hire Oliveira until the end of the season and negotiate an option to buy worth eighteen million euros: a fixed transfer fee of fifteen million euros, which can increase by three million euros due to bonuses.
In addition to Oliveira, FC Porto also threatens to lose Díaz in this winter transfer window. The name of the 24-year-old Colombian wing attacker has long been associated with Liverpool from England. The Sun claims that Liverpool are now going ahead, partly due to the absence of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah because of their participation in the Africa Cup. Díaz has a surrender clause of eighty million euros at FC Porto in his contract, which is still running until mid-2024. Liverpool would like to get that amount down slightly and are reportedly planning to offer Díaz €72 million.
The Colombian Win Sports TV reports that Liverpool is indeed interested, although according to that medium there is no question of an offer yet. In any case, FC Porto seems to be recording a significant win over Díaz (a total of 121 games, good for 39 goals and 18 assists), as he was taken over from Colombian Junior FC in 2019 for seven million euros. Díaz is this season an important player in coach Sérgio Conceição’s team, which leads the Portuguese Primeira Liga and faces Lazio in the intermediate round of the Europa League after the winter.
FC Porto, however, seems forced to sell players in January. UEFA announced at the beginning of December that the Portuguese top club, together with Sporting Portugal, is one of the eight clubs that have violated the Financial Fair Play rules. In addition to a fine of 300,000 euros, FC Porto must ensure that the finances are in order before January 31, 2022. If the finances are still not in order after that deadline, UEFA will proceed with a European exclusion.