:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/16317937/170806316.0.jpg)
The deal looks done! Well...allegedly...
If you ask talkSPORT, FC Bayern and FC Barcelona have completed a €18 million (£15 million) transfer of Thiago Alcântara. According to them, Thiago is expected to get a five-year deal, with actual weekly wages not exposed.
Bayern Munich agree £15m deal to sign Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona: Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara h... http://t.co/7r8R7dwsWF
— MUFC News (@mufc_live) July 12, 2013
If you ask Kicker, apparently the asking price is €21.7 million, at least according to their transfer ticker. They also wrote that Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Sandro Rosell should already have an agreement, which suggests that a deal is not yet done.
Sky Italia originally broke the news that the two FCB's came to an agreement over the 22-year-old, but they later retracted their report.
Guardian and Süddeutsche Zeintung contributor Raphael Honigstein believes, according to his sources, that Karl Heinz Rummenigge will at least pay Thiago's buyout clause, which is €18 million.
Catalan radio RAC1: Rummenigge has told Barca they will pay Thiago Alcantara's release clause. (via @isaac_lluch)
— raphael honigstein (@honigstein) July 11, 2013
To add some soap opera to the Thiago drama, Alcântara may not even be a target for Manchester United, at least according to David Moyes's comments captured by Sport Direct.
"I never said [Thiago Alcântara] was a target. We're on with targets that we are chasing at this moment in time. There are people we are actively chasing and, at this moment in time, we're happy with how things are going."
- David Moyes via Sport Direct
What on earth do we take from all this? Well, an agreement looks extremely close, and Bayern are willing to meet the buyout clause. The Thiago Transfer to Munich looks less like an if, and more and more like a when.
[UPDATE: 9:00 AM EDT, 7/13/13]
Sport is now reporting that FC Bayern are going to confirm the signing of Thiago. The fee is £19 million (€22 million), the report alleged, but the rest of the details are unknown (if you can read Spanish and want to inform the rest of us what the report actually said, here is the link)
This report comes just hours after Thiago apparently told FC Barcelona brass that he wishes to move to Bayern, according to Mundo Deportivo. Of course as always, it's better to wait for confirmation from either club, but it looks like this transfer saga might have an end as soon as today.