Coventry City Dealt Blow as Olympiacos Leads Race for $6M Target

Bad news emerged on Monday for newly promoted Premier League side Coventry City, as one of its transfer targets appears to be close to signing for another club. Specifically, Olympiacos.

According to PAOK reporter Stavros Sountoulidis (h/t TransferFeed), Olympiacos is considered the big favorite to sign Augsburg left-back Dimitris Giannoulis, who is also of interest to PAOK, AEK Athens, Coventry City, and Hull City.

The cited report reveals that Thrylos' offer amounts to 5 million euros (approximately $6 million) plus bonuses.

Hours earlier, Pantelis Diamantopoulos reported on bwinSPORT FM 94.6 that there is now a 90% chance the player will sign for the Red and Whites, as the Piraeus team's offer would be double what PAOK offered, for example.

In the same report, Diamantopoulos recalls that Giannoulis rejected a proposal from Coventry, even though it was equal to the one from the Greek club that now appears to be in pole position to sign him.

This matter could be resolved soon, and it seems that everything will depend on the player, as Augsburg has already received the monetary offer it expected. We will have to wait to see the conclusion of this saga.

Yesterday, TransferFeed explained that Giannoulis did not want to return to the Premier League, which is why he rejected both Coventry and Hull City, another newly promoted club.

"Coventry City, a newly promoted Premier League club managed by Frank Lampard, has been monitoring 30-year-old Greek left-back Dimitris Giannoulis," the cited outlet began explaining.

They added, "However, Giannoulis recently rejected the move, reportedly stating that he does not want to play in the Premier League again."

At Roundtable, we revealed that the player preferred a move back to Greece, and today that trend is being confirmed by multiple sources.

Olympiacos still has to resolve the future of its current left-backs, Francisco Ortega and Bruno Onyemaechi. The Argentine has aroused the interest of some clubs abroad, including Italian side Udinese.

As for the Nigerian, it is unclear whether he will leave, but earlier this month, there was talk that Jose Luis Mendilibar's team would change both of its left-backs. For now, it is most likely that Ortega will leave, but there are no strong indications that Onyemaechi will do the same. 

As for the right-backs, it seems that Mallorca's Pablo Maffeo is almost 100% closed to arrive at Piraeus, with Portuguese player Costinha leaving for Brighton & Hove Albion and giving up his spot.

Do you think the player will finally sign for Olympiacos, or do you still see Coventry having a chance?