Jorge Mendes causes CIVIL WAR over Man Utd target

A rift is emerging at Al-Ittihad over the potential signing of Porto wonderkid Rodrigo Mora, and superagent Jorge Mendes is right in the thick of it.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder has been in talks over a shock move to Saudi giants Al-Ittihad in recent days, with the Saudi Pro League keen to attract more young talent.

Mora has agreed to leave his boyhood club Porto to make the move to Jeddah, but the two clubs have yet to reach an agreement on the cost of the youngster.

The teenager recently signed a contract extension that somewhat surprisingly saw his release clause drop from €100 million down to €70m, and this is the fee that Porto are demanding.

Al-Ittihad have seen a €63 million offer rejected despite arguing that the 10 per cent sell-on clause they wanted to include in the deal would have made Porto more money in the long run.

Al-Ittihad in turmoil over Mora deal

So far, no second offer has materialised, and it seems that this is due to a major rift at Al-Ittihad over the potential arrival of Mora. To be able to bring the Portuguese in, an international spot will have to be freed up, which means that a player will have to be sacrificed.

According to Ben Jacobs, Fabinho is emerging as a likely candidate to depart as the former Liverpool star is fielding interest from Al-Shabab. It is expected that this deal would be a loan, with Al-Ittihad still shouldering a hefty chunk of his salary.

However, Foot Mercato reports that Al-Ittihad’s players are against the signing of Mora, presumably because it means that someone would have to make way.

Similarly, the report claims that the club’s board is also unwilling to sanction a deal for Mora, despite the fact that CEO Domingos Soares de Oliveira is pushing for it with the firm backing of the Public Investment Fund.

Superagent Jorge Mendes also has his part to play in this story as he is the main driver behind this deal. As Mora’s representative, he would pocket a handsome commission if this transfer were to come to fruition. He is also the agent of Fabinho, who is said to be reluctant to leave.

Mora had been attracting interest from Man Utd and PSG earlier this year, but he is now embroiled in a veritable transfer war, all just to sacrifice a few years of his hugely promising career for a fat payday.

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