Sporting Lisbon accuse David Sullivan of lying about William Carvalho transfer

The fallout from West Ham’s poor showing on transfer deadline day continues. The transfer saga over the signing of Portuguese international William Carvalho came to a disappointing end as the Hammers and Sporting Lisbon couldn’t agree a fee for the midfielder.

It was a frustrating time for the club as we desperately needed midfield strength after a dismal start to the season. Social media was awash with criticism for the board, in response to this Sullivan issued a statement on the club website, blaming Slaven Bilic for the lack of deadline day signings.

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In explaining the lack of signing, Sullivan has been branded a liar by Sporting Lisbon over the Carvalho signing.

Sullivan said:

"It is no secret that we made a club record bid for Sporting Lisbon’s William Carvalho but unfortunately that offer was rejected a couple of weeks ago.

"Late last night Sporting Lisbon made contact to accept the original offer, but unfortunately it was just too late in the day, and we simply did not have enough time to put the player through a medical.

"We were not prepared, as a club, to buy a player for that amount of money without him having gone through adequate medical checks.

"Grzegorz Krychowiak and Renato Sanches were both offered to the manager before their switches elsewhere, but he told us that he is happy with the squad he has.

"As a Board we are behind Slaven, and he believes he has the tools to turn around our form and rectify our disappointing start to the season."

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In response to this Sporting’s director of communications, Nuno Saraiva has outright accused Sullivan of lying. Translated by the Daily Star, he said:

“David Sullivan lies.

“At Sporting, as has already been said by our president, no proposal has been made for the player William Carvalho.

“The football industry is not the set of an adult film in which all obscenities are allowed.

“So the boss of a club demands a lot more than this intellectual pornography.

“Mr David Sullivan has a duty to prove what he says. That is why Sporting challenges him to publicly show the proposals he claims to have made as well as the evidence that Sporting received them.

“One thing is certain: Sporting, has already been said, does not cut legs to its athletes. But we have nothing to do with the performance of entrepreneurs or relatives who live at the expense of players and who are offering them a club at a club price, without a mandate, as if they were cheap supermarket merchandise.

“Athlete and the club, and creating regrettable situations that have already forced the Sporting to take drastic measures to defend these characters who parasitise the lives of some players.”

This is yet another embarrassment for the club and chairmen. New lows have been reached.