Mendilibar and Olympiacos add to Sevilla’s Oso dilemma | OneFootball

Olympiacos, coached by José Luis Mendilibar, have joined the chase for Sevilla academy left-back Joaquín Martínez Gauna, known as Oso, sharpening a major summer dilemma at Nervión.

According to ABC de Sevilla, sporting director José Ignacio Navarro has made Oso’s long-term renewal a priority, though salary differences are delaying a deal, similarly to centre-back Andrés Castrín.

Mendilibar, familiar with Sevilla’s academy from his time in charge there, has asked to explore Oso’s signing to reinforce the left side of the Greek champions’ defence. He previously tried to tempt Adrià Pedrosa from Nervión, underlining his preference for that profile.

Nottingham Forest tabled an initial offer of six million euros, which Sevilla rejected as insufficient. Fiorentina are monitoring and there is speculation they could go to 12 million euros. Strasbourg and Real Sociedad are also attentive, with La Real even proposing a swap involving Javi López.

Sevilla will not contemplate a sale below 20 million euros, exactly matching Oso’s current release clause. The club continue to work on a new deal to raise it.

Aware that losing Oso and Castrín would force costly replacements, Sevilla prefer to stretch on wages rather than risk Oso entering his final year and negotiating freely. If renewal talks fail to progress, they would open the door to a sale to secure a sizeable profit this summer.

Source: La Colina De Nervion