But seriously, fuck them.
We had agreed the 7.5m€ deal with them earlier. Then when the time arrived for the official offer, they lowballed with some 3.5m€ + bonuses bullshit. And I guess they offered less for Joao Mario too than initially agreed/talked. Joao Mario pissed off over that and I guess that was the end of any deal with Sporting. Then he found agreement with Benfica and then all the lawyer shenanigans started.
What I don't get is why we just didn't do the deal with Benfica, if the clause was indeed a right of first refusal? Or was it that we and Benfica feared Sporting might match it and then Benfica deal would be off (Joao Mario wasn't going to Sporting anymore at that point)?
Now this thing with agent fees makes sense, that we owe money to Pastorello for 4m€ so he gets that money from Benfica as agent fee when signing Joao Mario as a free agent and Pastorello waives the money owned by Inter to him. But where's the missing 3.5m€?
WHERE MY MONEY AT?