Henrique transfer is one fax away

Brazilian club Palmeiras has confirmed on its official website that the negotiations with Barcelona on the transfer of Palmeiras central defender and Brazilian international Henrique Adriano Buss (21) has entered the final stage.

A deal is very close and Henrique has therefore been removed from the Palmeiras squad for this weekend's Brazilian league game. During yesterday afternoon's training session, the central defender did even have to leave the training pitch.

André Cury, a representative of sports marketing agency Traffic that ownes the rights on Henrique (read more here), confirmed the advanced stage of the negotiations to Brazilian sports site UOL Esporte: "Henrique is almost transferred. We're now just waiting for a last fax from Barcelona."

Barcelona would pay 10 million euro° for Henrique, who will sign a five-year contract. Palmeiras receives twenty per cent of the difference between the transfer fee and the 2,5 million euro fee paid by Traffic in January (read more here). Three and a half per cent of the final fee will go to Brazilian club Coritiba as training rights.

Palmeiras sports director Toninho Cecílio said in an interview with Brazilian radio station Rádio Globo that his club, that initially had hoped to be able to loan Henrique back from Barcelona until the end of the year, is alreay looking for someone to replace the player:

"We will miss Henrique but there are market conditions that don't make it easy to hold on to the player. The agents of the players have found today (this is yesterday) a deal on the salary and the duration of the contract. They reached a verbal agreement for five years. The deal isn't yet one hundred per cent finalized. There are still some details left between Barcelona, Palmeiras and Traffic but I believe that there won't be any problems. In terms of return on investment his time with us has surely been excellent."

Catalan sports paper Sport, who claims that Barcelona will pay between 8 and 10 million euro°, says that Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain found last week a deal with the player. This week Barcelona agreed with the owners on the transfer fee.

It seems that Henrique will start the pre-season with Barcelona. After that, the technical staff will decide if they keep the Brazilian with the team or find another solution. Despite having German roots, Henrique doesn't have an passport of a European Union country, which shouldn't be a problem since Barcelona still has some non-EU spots available.

Brazilian sports site Globo Esporte claims that Henrique, who can play on all defense positions and as defensive midfielder, will travel to Barcelona in the beginning of next week.

Watch video:
Henrique presented as Palmeiras player earlier this year

Read more:
Agent confirms Henrique talks

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