West Brom have been handed a 30-day extension in their quest to turn Matheus Pereira’s temporary move permanent, but have been warned there will be no further respite.
The Brazilian attacker, 23, has been a revelation at the Hawthorns this season.
His six goals and 12 assists have lit up the Championship and propelled the Baggies into the second automatic promotion place with a healthy six-point advantage over third-placed Fulham.
West Brom’s desire to bring Pereira to England from parent club Sporting Lisbon was previously made clear, with a bargain fee of £8.25m touted as required to seal the deal.
However, the uncertainty waged on the football calendar by the coronavirus pandemic cast a long shadow on the club’s ability to pull off the deal.
Mercifully for the Baggies, British newspaper the Mirror report that Sporting have given West Brom a 30-day extension in which to stump up the funds necessary to get the deal over the line.
However, the article notes that this extension is a one time only agreement and the club ‘will not be allowing any further extensions beyond that.’
Elsewhere, former West Brom favourite Youssouf Mulumbu is facing an uncertain future within the game after the pandemic put a premature end to his trial with cross-town rivals Birmingham City.
“I trained with the Birmingham team. Everything was going well and the virus stopped everything,” Mulumbu is cites as saying by the Mirror.
“They gave me a program with goals to reach and we had to send them every day to the fitness trainer.
“But football is stopped for everyone. So everyone is at a standstill.
“The strangest thing is that we don’t know what’s going to happen.
“We are patient, we try to keep in shape as best we can.
“We do not control whether the Championship will resume or not, if there will be a transfer window, if the clubs will be able to recruit players.
“We try to stay in shape, we run, we try to be positive. It’s difficult, but we have to adapt quickly to this situation.”
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