Hamburg have not given up hope of signing Fabio Vieira on a permanent basis, but their attempts to negotiate with Arsenal to reduce their asking price have so far gone unheeded.
It is understood the Gunners included a €20 million option clause in the Portuguese midfielder’s season-long loan, but the Bundesliga club rejected the amount.
Instead, they appear to be trying to negotiate a deal closer to half that amount while still offering Vieira a competitive salary.
Speaking at a supporters’ meeting this week, comments relayed Hamburger Morgenpost and translated Sports Witnessboard member Eric Hoover provided an update on the progress of the negotiations.
“Fabio is a fantastic player and we feel like we are fighting for him every single day. We have also backed our interest in Arsenal with financials; the situation is well known. But no one is flinching now,” he said.
“We are confident that we can make Fabio a very competitive offer within our capabilities without incurring any debt.
“We are naturally very curious to see if he and Arsenal will accept this.
“We fell a bit in love with Fabio last year, but we won’t be unreasonable. If Arsenal say yes, we’ll be happy to have Fabio; if they say no, we’ll be happy to have someone else.”
Vieira made 31 appearances for Hamburg last season – his second loan spell in a row since returning to boyhood club Porto – scoring seven goals and providing six assists to comfortably maintain his Bundesliga status following promotion.
Signed by Edu for €35 million in the summer of 2022, the midfielder has one year remaining on his Arsenal contract. Even if another club matches the reported price of €20 million, the Gunners will suffer significant losses on the deal. However, given his struggle to establish himself in north London, this may simply be the price of moving on.
At the moment, Vieira has returned to London Colney and is taking part in pre-season training. He is joined by the return of Reiss Nelson, another player widely expected to leave for good before the transfer window closes.
According to BBC SportThe 26-year-old footballer has refused offers from English clubs as he prefers to move abroad.
One possible destination is Benfica, who are currently managed by Marco Silva, who worked with Nelson during his loan spell at Fulham in 2024/25. Valencia are also reported to be interested in him.
Nelson’s loan to Brentford never materialized. Injuries limited him to just 339 minutes in 14 matches, making this summer an important opportunity to get his career back on track. But we say that every year…