Hull target Negredo to stay in Spain – press

English Premier League outfit Hull City appear to have failed in their bid to sign Real Madrid striker Alvaro Negredo, who is set to join Spanish side Zaragoza, a Spanish sports daily said Monday.

The 23-year-old wants to remain in Spain, and Real are ready to let him, AS reported.

This is despite the fact that Hull has agreed to Real’s terms of an 18 million euro transfer fee plus a two-year buy-back clause worth 25 million euros — an offer Zaragoza cannot match, the paper said.

It said the newly promoted outfit is ready to pay a fee “very far” from the amount sought by Real, but the Madrid club would have an option to buy back the player “for next to nothing” over the next two years.

“Zaragoza is very close to being the destination of Alvaro Negredo,” AS said.

Negredo, who has also been linked to Tottenham, was the second-highest scorer in Spain’s Primera Liga with 19 goals last season, when he played for Almeria. Real then exercised a buy-back option on him during the close season.

Real president Florentino Perez has splashed out over 250 million euros on the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema since he returned to the club in June in a bid to make the nine-times European champions a formidable force again.

But he is now seeking to offload a number of players to recoup some of the massive outlay.

AS said the possible sale of Dutchmen Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Rafael Van der Vaart would more than make up for the extra cash the club would have received from Hull for Negredo.