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Fulham’s bid to sign Steven Defour has ended in failure after Porto decided they will not allow the Belgium midfielder to leave.
Defour, 25, held talks with Fulham’s chief executive
Alastair Mackintosh last week and was ready to sign a three-and-half-year deal
to move to west London for around £4million. But after the Portuguese champions
confirmed the sale of club captain Lucho Gonzalez to Qatar Sports Club on
Saturday, Defour’s agent revealed that his client will not be leaving.
“Steven has to stay at Porto. They sold Lucho Gonzalez and
decided that Steven can take his place,” said Paul Stefani.
“We had to wait some days because to find out what Porto
wanted to do and he had a meeting on Saturday night where they informed him of
the decision. He is happy to stay but he was also happy go to Fulham. He had some
good talks with them and it was a fantastic option but he has two years left on
his contract in Portugal. Fulham made a very good impression and maybe we will
see what happens in the future.”
German side Schalke were also interested in taking Defour, who
has struggled to hold down a regular place since joining Porto from Standard
Liege in 2011. But Defour, who tweeted a good luck message to Argentina
international Gonzalez on Sunday, is now expected to play more of a part under
coach Paulo Fonseca.
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