Negotiations between Bournemouth and Lorient over Éli Junior Kroupi were ‘stormy’ as true value of transfer revealed | OneFootball

Éli Junior Kroupi’s (18) move from formative club FC Lorient to Bournemouth went down to the wire on transfer deadline day. The move was only completed in the dying minutes of the window. L’Équipe have now revealed details about the difficult negotiations between the two clubs, despite both being part of the same multi-club model and sharing the same owner in the form of Bill Foley.

Foley may own 40% of Ligue 2 side Lorient, however, that didn’t make negotiations to sign Kroupi much easier. LFC president and majority shareholder Loïc Féry fought to get every last centime out of Bournemouth, with L’Équipe describing negotiations between the clubs as “stormy”.

“The links that unite us don’t exclude the fact that we can negotiate with Bournemouth as we do with other clubs,” said an internal source at Lorient. Despite the difficulties in the negotiations, a deal was struck with just minutes to spare.

The true value of the move has also been revealed. Previous reports suggested that Bournemouth completed the deal for €12m, however, L’Équipe understands the true figure to be €15m.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle