Olympiacos dismissed links to Pablo Garcia as they instead pressure Sevilla to lower their valuation for primary wing target Ruben Vargas in a tense stalemate.
Olympiacos have denied rumours linking the club to a potential transfer for Real Betis winger Pablo Garcia, reports Sport24.gr.
Several reports emerged in the last few hours that the Reds and Whites have identified a possible summer signing in Garcia, who played a regular first-team role last season with Real Betis despite his young age. He appeared in 21 games in La Liga and the UEFA Europa League last campaign for the Andalusian club, and this season, he has already made three appearances in the Spanish top flight, scoring once.
Garcia emerged as a rumoured link when talks stalled with Sevilla for Ruben Vargas, who has been the primary target for Olympiacos for their wing. There has been a different in the respective valuations for both clubs for the Swiss international, and this has led to a stalemate in negotiations.
According to an update on OrgulloBiri.com Sevilla FC's X account, there is a €3 million gap between Olympiacos' offer for Vargas and Sevilla's asking price. Los Nervionenses have decided to offload the 28-year-old this summer, and they must do so quickly to provide the team with the necessary financial capability to complete the three signings they have made.
After Vargas' World Cup performances, Sevilla had a set price of €20 million, which later dropped to €15 million plus bonuses as they needed to sell him soon. Olympiacos have sent a bid in the region of €12 million, and Evangelos Marinakis wants the clock to run down for the Spanish side so he can get a cut-price player. Clubs like Bologna and Trabzonspor have registered interest in the player, but nothing concrete has happened. Unless there are more competitors in the race, Marinakis is not expected to increase the offer.
Thrylos brought winger Konstantinos Fortounis back to the squad after two years with Saudi Arabian side Al-Khaleej. The 33-year-old is not expected to start every match for Jose Luis Mendilibar's team, and therefore, they have been hunting for a regular starter for some time now.
In other news, Olympiacos are negotiating with Turkish outfit Rizespor for Clayton Silva's loan move. The forward has shared the same fate as Mehdi Taremi and Roman Yaremchuk by falling out of favour for Mendilibar. He wants to go forth with Ayoub El Kaabi and new signing Armando Gonzalez as his two top strikers in the side without overloading the attack. The Brazilian played just 112 minutes in the Super League Greece last season, and it is better for him to find more game time elsewhere and then return to the club.
