Mamelodi Sundowns have likened winger Gaston Sirino to Barcelona star Lionel Messi, saying there is no cap on the asking price for the Uruguayan’s suitors.
African champions Al Ahly are keen on Sirino and reportedly upped their offer for the player from R18 million to R46 million in the latest bid, but Downs are sticking to R92 million.
Earlier this week, Sundowns general manager Yogesh Singh was quoted as saying that they are abandoning Sirino negotiations with Al Ahly and will only listen to the Egyptians if they return with an offer that “shows respect.”
In his latest remarks on Sirino, Singh revealed that they want R92 million for the 29-year-old as he compared him to Messi.
"Whoever wants to contract with Messi has to pay a lot of money to contract with him and not say that there is a limit to his deals, and the same is true for Sirino,” Singh told Yallakora.
“Al Ahly requested to buy Sirino and made an official offer about a week ago and we rejected it, because it was in financial terms. What Al Ahly offered is much less than the expected offer. We want to charge €5 million in order to agree to the departure of Sirino from the team.”
If the Cairo giants agree to Sundowns’ asking fee, it would be a record transfer fee Sundowns would have ever received for a player.
Al Ahly offloaded Senegalese midfielder Aliou Badji on Tuesday in a move seen to create space for Sirino in their foreign slots.
They are now left with Tunisian left-back Ali Maaloul, Nigerian forward Junior Ajayi, Angolan striker Geraldo and Malian defender Aliou Dieng as their foreign players.
“Al Ahly does not have an influential foreign player in the team. Ali Maaloul was here [in South Africa] when we beat Al Ahly 5-0,” added Singh.
Sirino is yet to play a league match for Sundowns this season after getting injured in the MTN8 quarter-final match against Bloemfontein Celtic but there is speculation that he has since recovered and is refusing to train in order to push for the Al Ahly move.
Singh, however, insists that the Uruguayan is injured.
“Indeed, he has been absent from training recently, but because of his suffering from a muscle injury, he is expected to return in the coming days,” Singh said.