Keirrison will sign contract tomorrow

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Palmeiras forward Keirrison (20) will sign tomorrow a five-year contract with Barcelona.



(sources: rac 1, sport, tv3, as, el periódico, globo esporte, lance)

Last Thursday, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Barcelona director of football Raúl Sanllehí met with André Cury, a representative of Brazilian player's agency Traffic that owns 80 per cent of the transfer rights of the player, the other 20 per cent being in the possession of Palmeiras. Traffic chairman Júlio Mariz also took part in the meeting.

The negotiations are then said to be well-advanced, a pre-agreement would have been reached. Cury says: "We're optimistic regarding a deal. As we are concerned, we now have a pre-agreement that we hope to finalize on Tuesday." Barcelona would already have had before agreed on an option on the player that expired on 30 June.

On Friday, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain had a lunch with Marcos Malaquias, one of the player's agents Marcos Malaquias in a Barcelona restaurant to negotiate on the player's contract. In the afternoon, Malaquias and Mariz met with Barcelona officials at the club's offices.

Naor Malaquias, the other agent of Keirrison confirmed the talks: "My brother and a Traffic director are in Barcelona to take part in the negotiations. I don't know anything about possible fees yet." Marcos Malaquias said after the meeting that a deal was very close: "There are only a few details missing before it's official."

It was then decided that Keirrison wouldn't train or play anymore with Palmeiras. The Brazilian striker travelled the same day to his home-town Keirrison, where he was getting ready to fly to Barcelona. Palmeiras put out a statement confirming a formal offer by Barcelona, Keirrison did the same (read more here). Barcelona president Joan Laporta says the next day that they're on the verge of finalizing the deal.

Despite having more than four years left on his contract, Keirrison can leave Palmeiras without an extra fee. When he signed his contract earlier this year, a clause was inserted that allowed him to move at any moment to Barcelona, his favourite club since childhood (read more here). Sport claims that Keirrison also insisted that in his contract with Traffic a buyout clause would be included saying that he could leave to Barcelona for 15 million euro°. For other clubs, the buyout clause would be 50 million euro.

Other sources mention other figures regarding the agreed transfer fee: "13 million plus 3 million in incentives" (tv3), "around 14 million euro" (el periódico), "around 15 million euro" (globo esporte), "16 million euro" (lance). Keirrison, who also rejected an offer by Real Madrid in January, will most likely be included, on loan or permanently, in a transfer deal on Villa or (more unlikely) on Forlán or Bruno Alves.

Read more:
Deal on transfer of Keirrison
Keirrison dreams of Barcelona move
Barcelona prepares final offer for Villa

Barcelona could include Keirrison in Villa deal

Catalan radio station RAC 1 claims that Barcelona could try to include Palmeiras forward Keirrison (20) in the transfer of Valencia forward and Spanish international David Villa (28).

Barcelona would have a first option on the Brazilian striker and would be considering to sign the player to include him afterwards in the deal on Villa. Valencia would nevertheless not be interested in the player.

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain met yesterday with André Cury, the head of sports marketing agency Traffic that owns the transfer rights of Keirrison. A transfer fee of between 10 and 15 million euro° would have been put forward.

Asked about the rumours, Palmeiras sports director Toninho Cecílio said in an interview with Brazilian sports paper Lance that a transfer is not an option at the moment: "We shouldn't be answering this type of questions the whole time. We know how to deal with this, we know that is normal because he's a very good player, but the club wants to win trophies and the sale of Keirrison isn't an issue for now. He has signed for four years and we plan to keep him. We will only sell when the club and his agency think it's a good deal. Our president Belluzzo has to sign too and that's not close to happen at this moment."

Read more:
Barcelona met with Keirrison last week
Barcelona makes new bid for Villa
Principal agreement with Keirrison