If you step back and think about it, it almost makes you laugh. A Diva, a suiter, and a fake email address. A reported strike from our star winger, and some really weird details that don't add up. In a rather boring overall Transfer Window (even with CR7 and Messi moving), this added excitement to the end. It was like the end of the marathon at the Olympics, where everyone is sprinting that final 100 yards and are neck and neck, but then one of them falls on their face on national TV. This is tragically funny. Don't think so? Let's have a re-look at the timeline:
June 22nd: Roma Press reports that Lazio is in negotiations with Eintracht for Kostic. The reported offer could be worth €15mil, but no actual number is posted.
August 8th: Rumors heat back up, with TuttoMurcatoWeb.com reporting that Lazio is intensifying their negotiations with Eintracht. Alfredo Pedulla reports that Kostic has come to personal terms with the club for around €2.5 per season, plus incentives. Pedulla reports that the agreement is for a loan deal, worth between €18-20million.
August 11th: Markus Krösche states he has yet to receive any offer from Lazio in a press conference.
August 14th: This Tweet:
August 20th: Pedulla reports again that Lazio and Kostic are in complete agreement, Christopher Michel questions on Twitter how Lazio can afford Kostic for that price.
August 23rd: Oliver Glasner assures that Kostic is staying with them.
August 26th: Lazio moves Joaquín Correa for €35mil. SkySport speculates that the Kostic situation is hot.
August 27th: Glasner states again that Kostic is staying in Frankfurt. Also, Filip Kostic walks off the pitch during training and is not available for the Bielefeld game. Glasner and Krösche publicly state they are frustrated with his actions.
August 28th: Krösche confirms Kostic has asked to move but reiterates that there has been no offer received from Lazio.
August 29th: Lazio reportedly makes a formal offer for €10 to buy Kostic outright, Eintracht reject the offer.
Roman Murphy says the only real truth in the entire ordeal.
August 30th: Multiple media outlets report that Eintracht and Lazio are in conference calls trying to finalize the deal. Lazio increases the size of the deal to (reportedly) €15mil + €3mil in add ons.
August 31st: SkySports reports that the deal with Lazio is officially off. Kroesche makes the following statement: "Our task is to ensure the economic and sporting stability of Eintracht Frankfurt. Obviously, this is also the case in this case. Kostic is a good man & a great footballer. We believe he can continue to be an important pillar of our team as well in the future".
Sept 1st: According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Eintracht gave them the wrong email address in order to sabotage the deal. Apparently, Kostic's agent receives a screenshot of the email and shows it to him.
Sept 2nd: News reports state that Lazio simply left the K out of Frankfurt and made a typo, costing them the deal.
Here's the real story, this deal was a ridiculous one. The fact that the best offer reported was either a loan deal worth half of Kostic's worth, or an outright buy worth a third tells me Lazio wasn't really that serious about it, to begin with. Either that or they don't actually know what they were trying to buy.
Seriously? This doesn't seem fishy to anyone? Let's have a little fun here. With Disney's "What If" playing in the background as I write this, let's play The Scenario Game. Let's walk through a couple of actual scenarios and play this out.
Scenario 1: The gorgeous something at the bar.
We've all been there. You have your eye on that certain extremely attractive person across the bar, they make eyes back at you, and you walk over to work your magic. You are soo confident that you offer to buy them a drink, and when they ask for that $20 cocktail you almost spit yours through your nose. Their friend says they like you, and you are sure you are leaving with that person. They come back, you chat for a while, exchange numbers and you're sure that there could be a future with this one. At the end of the night, you play it cool instead of being super aggressive and decide to leave with a number and a hug. When you get your place, it's then, and only then that you realized you actually had no chance at all because the phone number you got was for a dry cleaning service in the strip mall across the street from the bar.
Lazio made a terribly low offer for Kostic, Eintracht was like "Yeah, sure, we'll hop right on accepting that offer (sarcasm).......here's our email address." and Lazio actually thought it was done. They were soo excited they told all their friends. They pulled a Good Will Hunting "You like apples? Well I got her number, how you like them apples?" to everyone through the press. It wasn't until later that night when they decided to hit the Diva up they realized they were given the wrong number. Then they realized that they had no chance after the transfer window expired.
Scenario 2: The fish that got away.
It's very possible that Lazio was soo embarrassed about getting turned down, that they made the whole thing up, like a guy that's bragged all day about catching everyone's dinner only to come home empty-handed.
Lazio: "Listen, Filip (and our entire fanbase)......hear us out......this deal was COMPLETELY DONE.....except for the fact that we opened our bidding at 1/4th of what you're worth......oh, and the fact that we emailed the bid instead of flying to Frankfurt and hammering out a deal in person.......oh, and that part where we didn't have the right email address. Also, our bid was soo low the first time Eintracht rejected it.....OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS CONCRETE!"
Scenario 3: What Hinti Said.
Hinteregger didn't
mix words recently whenever he spoke about the entire situation. It's highly likely that a ton of those details were fake, made-up stories by News Media sites. It's most likely that people were just trying to get a story and not reporting the truth. Like the soccer tabloids never do that? They're worse than National Enquirer at times.
To sum this nonsense up:
First of all, this is a professional business run by professional businessmen? WHO EMAILS THIS BID? Why didn't Lazio put their feet in Frankfurt and hammer out a deal? Who sends an email to a wrong address and doesn't immediately pick up a phone and call to correct it? Who was reporting for months that the deal was done, posting ridiculously terrible deals while Eintracht's front office is reporting they never received a deal? All of this is too crazy to be fake.......I'm not heartbroken that Kostic is staying here for a while longer. He's signed until 2023, and he's the most important player in our attack. Whatever happened in the way the deal didn't get done......I don't really care. The fact that Kostic left training and didn't suit up against Bielefeld. I don't like it, but I understand it. It's no secret that he would like to play in Italy. I would imagine Lazio offered him a pretty nice raise from what he's making now. If my employer blocked me from going to my dream job and taking a hefty raise, I'd probably be pretty mad too. Regardless of how we feel about anything, he's an Eagle for the foreseeable future. I'm happy that he got a warm welcome against VfB, and I almost jumped through the roof when he scored that goal. Let's just put all this craziness behind us and get to work. Maybe Lazio should take some of that money they saved and invest in some IT and Technology infrastructure.
Press on,
Forza S.G.E.
Brian
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