By Gareth Messenger
May 31 – Portugal’s Sporting CP will be the beneficiary of more than €3.5million from the sale of Joao Moutinho from Porto to French side Monaco for €25 million.
The windfall comes at a useful time for the club that finished seventh in Portugal’s top league this season but has battled financially to remain competitive.
Sporting sold Moutinho to their Portuguese rivals in 2010 with a sell-on clause in the contract. The transfer fee at the time was €11 million, with a further €1 million being paid for 50% of the rights to central defender Nuno André Coelho. The sell-on clause provides for Sporting to receive 25% of any sum above the original transfer paid to them by Porto.
Moutinho spent his early career at Sporting having been developed through the club’s youth system, where he trained for six years. He will receive a percentage of the fee paid to his former club.
The former head of finance at Sporting CP, José Filipe Nobre Guedes, said: “Sporting receives 25 per cent of the extras. Is €3.5million a small amount? I don’t think any of it is bad. At the time he was worth more than that.
“He was sold for the right price. He sold well and Sporting needed it at the time.”
The confirmation of Moutinho’s transfer to France’s Ligue 2 champions means Sporting will receive 25% of the further €14million Monaco have paid on top of the original fee Porto paid for the 26-year-old of €11million.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734784330labto1734784330ofdlr1734784330owedi1734784330sni@r1734784330egnes1734784330sem.h1734784330terag1734784330. Gareth is Editor-in-Chief, www.laliganews.tv @G_Messenger