Burnley target said he’d be ‘better’ than Ronaldo, once valued at £23m
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley are not giving up on Jovane Cabral and plan to make the Sporting Lisbon winger an improved new offer before the end of the summer, A Bola report.
When the Clarets completed the signing of Royal Antwerp’s Manuel Benson last week, it seemed we could draw a line in their pursuit of another jet-heeled wideman. Especially after Jovane rebuffed Burnley’s advances over concerns about “the project” at Turf Moot.
But Vincent Kompany is not a man who tends to give up without a fight.
And the Manchester City legend is yet to accept defeat in the pursuit of a player valued at a staggering £23million by Sporting Lisbon two years ago.
Burnley are not giving up Sporting Lisbon’s Jovane Cabral
Burnley, of course, will pay nowhere near such a fee. According to the Record, Sporting have already accepted an offer of just £4.5million from the Lancashire side.
£3.5million would be paid upfront, with the rest arriving if Burnley manage to return to the Premier League’s promised land on the first occasion.
But agreeing a deal with Sporting is the easy part. Finding an agreement with the player himself seems to be a slightly trickier task. According to A Bola, Burnley plan to up their initial offer as they look to twist the arm of the Cape Verde international.
Burnley’s impressive start to life under Kompany – four points from two league games – should also speak in their favour.
“Better” than Cristiano Ronaldo?
“I’m not surprised by this interest. Jovane has already shown his quality and still has a lot of room for improvement,” said former Sporting ace Pedrosa when the now 24-year-old was linked with West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur a couple of seasons ago.
“Sport always brings out young people (from the academy). If Jovane has the opportunity to prove himself abroad, this will happen.”
“Jovane is an asset to Sporting. He’s a great talent. A great player,” added former president Sousa Cintra. “When I signed the contract extension with him, I wanted a bigger (get out) clause. I wanted it to be 120 million.
“I told him then: ‘Look Jovane, you see Luis Figo or Cristiano Ronaldo, you will be just as good as them’. And he said to me, ‘No, Mr President, I will be better’.”
Two years later, Sporting are ready to accept just £4.5m for Jovane’s disappointing loan spell at Lazio. But there’s clearly a talented player in there somewhere.
In other news, ‘How can you’: Sky pundit ‘very surprised’ after Arsenal & Chelsea transfer deals