West Brom and Benfica are still in talks over the signing of Filip Krovinovic, although the two remain some way apart in their valuation of the midfielder, as per a report from Portuguese outlet Record.
Krovinovic was an important part of the Baggies automatic promotion-winning side during a season-long loan at The Hawthorns last season, and it seems the club are still working on bringing the player back to the Midlands for the coming campaign.
According to this latest update, West Brom want to bring Krovinovic back on a loan to buy deal, that would see them pay Benfica £5.4million for his services next summer.
In contrast to that, it is thought that the Portuguese giants want to sell Krovinovic now, and are demanding a fee of £9million to facilitate that, although midfielder’s future at The Estadio Da Luz looks bleak, given he is reportedly not in manager Jorge Jesus’ plans, and is currently training separately yo the rest of the first-team.
Even so, with two years remaining on Krovinovic’s contract with Benfica, the club are in a decent position to negotiate the offers that are currently coming in from the Baggies for the 25-year-old.
Given how much Bilic and co. clearly want Krovinovic back at The Hawthorns this season, the continuing stalemate around the midfielder’s future does feel rather frustrating.
However, with Benfica unlikely to want Krovinovic lingering at the club for another year at least, things might open for the Baggies the closer we get to the end of the transfer window.
Even so, there is clearly still some compromising to be done here, and West Brom will have to hope no other club comes in for Krovinovic in the meantime, which would not be entirely surprising given how he impressed in the Midlands last season.
