Al Ahly have not met what we want for Sirino – Sundowns

The elephant in the room at Mamelodi Sundowns is the possibility of losing the skilful Gaston Sirino to newly-crowned Caf Champions League winners Al Ahly, though the Tshwane powerhouse have slapped the Cairo giants with a steep price tag for the services of the Uruguayan.

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Of course, Ahly’s pursuit of the attacking wizard is influenced by former Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane, who personally scouted Sirino in Bolivia and brought him to South Africa, and now wants to lure him to Egypt to bolster his squad ahead of their Champions League title defence.

After numerous offers on the table, Sundowns are still not satisfied and are not willing to sell one of their most influential players for anything less than the price tag they have placed on the 29-year-old. Perhaps what makes Sirino expensive is his recent contract renewal of four years.

The North African giants’ last offer is understood to be around the region of R15 million, but Sundowns legal and commercial head Yogesh Singh did not want to be drawn into confirming whether the bandied about figure is correct or otherwise.

“The last offer that they made was rejected by Sundowns, that is where we are,” Singh told Phakaaathi.

“It is a negotiation between two parties and I am not at liberty to divulge figures. Negotiations are not one offer, they have made a couple of offers over a period of time but the bottom line is that they have not met the figure that we want,” he added.

While the local transfer window shut a couple of days ago, the Egyptian window is still open and Singh suspects that Ahly will come back, as they have shown great interest in the player, who has always expressed his desire to leave the club.

“If you come and want to buy and we tell you this is the price then it is up to you to come back or not. Whether they are going to act and make another offer, I don’t know, we can only say when they do come back,” said Singh.

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