Did Sounders get gazumped on Paolo Hurtado?

The Paolo Hurtado transfer saga appears to have taken a somewhat unexpected turn. At least two Portuguese outlets are reporting that the Peruvian midfielder has signed with Turkey’s Konyaspor, despite visiting with the Seattle Sounders as recently as Thursday. Hurtado was reportedly scheduled to undergo a physical on Saturday and the announcement would be presumably made shortly thereafter. A source with knowledge of the negotiations indicated they are still “ongoing”, however, which at least suggests nothing has been completely finalized either way.

Casting at least some doubt on the Portuguese reports is the figure being reported as the transfer fee. One story suggested it was only €1 million, which would be about 50 percent less than the Sounders were reportedly willing to pay. It’s also worth noting that Konyaspor is not usually one of Turkey’s big-spending teams, having never paid more than €3 million for any player and generally being conservative with the type of player they pursue.

One potential problem on the Sounders’ end might be the way the deal is structured, though. The Sounders cannot add a Designated Player in this window, and are likely trying to defer some of the costs to the winter transfer window when they’d have more financial flexibility.

On the positive side, it does look like the Sounders have several deals in the works and sources inside the team have expressed optimism about getting at least one player signed before the close of the transfer window on Aug. 8.