Football
Jonathan Johnson, PSG correspondent 6y

PSG, Valencia near agreement on Goncalo Guedes sale - source

Paris Saint-Germain and Valencia are working their way toward an agreement that should see Goncalo Guedes return to the Mestalla permanently before the end of the month, a source familiar with the transfer has told ESPN FC.

The clubs have been negotiating for Guedes since Valencia declared their interest in keeping him after his loan last season.

According to the source, talks never completely ended despite a disappointing meeting between Valencia owner Peter Lim and director general Mateu Alemany and PSG sporting director Antero Henrique in Singapore during the International Champions Cup -- and agent Jorge Mendes has now taken a bigger role in the deal.

Since then, when it appeared Valencia were ready to finally give up on their pursuit of Guedes, Mendes has worked tirelessly all week to bring the transfer to the point of fruition.

Although Valencia have been unable to significantly improve their offer worth €40 million in terms of the transfer fee, with Mendes' help, an agreement is close because of the inclusion of a substantial sell-on clause.

In order to get as close to PSG's €60m asking price as possible, Valencia are able to pay a little less than €45m with a sell-on clause of at least 20 percent of whatever Guedes might be sold for in the future.

Super Deporte reported that Guedes, 21, is expected in Valencia early next week, and while the source said those claims are premature, that person also said Valencia and Mendes were optimistic a breakthrough has been made.

Assuming PSG go for the improved offer for Guedes, that money will be put toward the arrival of Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng.

Although an offer in the region of €60m was put forward by Watford late in the English transfer window, it had arrived too late for Guedes to be convinced to move anywhere but Valencia.

If PSG successfully add Boateng, Henrique will turn his attention toward bringing in a new left-back, with UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) concerns likely to dictate it will not be Juventus' Alex Sandro.

PSG coach Thomas Tuchel favours Bayer Leverkusen's Wendell, with whom he is familiar, but Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose represents a cheaper alternative -- even if he was way down Henrique's list of targets until UEFA revisited their verdict on the FFP situation.

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