Paolo Hurtado officially joins Konyaspor

UPDATE: Konyaspor has officially announced Paolo Hurtado’s signing.

Nothing is quite official yet, but all signs are currently pointing to the Seattle Sounders missing out on signing Peruvian Paolo Hurtado. Reports out of Peru suggest the midfielder has already passed a physical and will soon be announced as a Konyaspor player. It appears as though the Turkish club came in with a €1.8 million transfer offer and may have offered better personal terms than the Sounders.

Although Sounder at Heart has not been able to independently confirm all of this, Niko Moreno’s reporting gives these reports a fair amount of credence.

The Sounders were likely somewhat hamstrung in negotiations due to not being able to make Hurtado a Designated Player immediately, and would have likely been forced to delay some of the transfer fee payment — and potentially some of his salary — until next year. Konyaspor was also apparently willing to spend more on Hurtado’s transfer fee than they had spent on any player in more than 10 years.

Despite this apparent setback, the Sounders are still expected to make at least one signing before the close of the transfer window on Wednesday. Most notably, they’ve been linked to Australia international Brad Smith. There have also been speculation they might be trying to work out a trade with the New England Revolution for Kelyn Rowe, who is almost certainly on the market.