Guaita will move to Crystal Palace on a free transfer on 1st July.
Crystal Palace tried to lowball Getafe after Vicente Guaita signed a contract with the Eagles, according to Guillem Balague.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed the goalkeeper will join his side this summer, when his contract in Spain expires.
But Balague claims Palace offered Getafe €4 million [£3.5 million] in a bid to tempt them into an early release – before halving their original proposal once Guaita’s move was agreed.
Needless to say the Liga side did not bite, with Balague, the Sky Sports Spanish football reporter, adding that they would have only seen 25 per cent of the money anyway.
He wrote: “Vicente Guaita has signed a pre-contract with Palace and passed a medical as well. The idea is to join in the summer.
“Palace tried to buy him for now, but instead of paying the €8 million [£7 million] that the buy-out clause says in the contract sent to the federation, or the €4 million from the private contract that Guaita has with Getafe, Palace offered €2 million [£1.8 million] in the end.
“Originally they offered €4 million, but Getafe did not want to get rid of him. They would only have got €1 million [£880,000] out of the €4 million. The rest goes to the player and to his agents.
“Once the pre-agreement was signed with Palace, then they tried to get him now by paying €2 million, but Getafe said, by pride, ‘No, it feels like they’ve taken advantage of us, so we won’t let him go’, and he has come back to play again for Getafe.”
Crystal Palace have both their senior goalkeepers, Wayne Hennessey and Julian Speroni, out of contract at the same time as Guaita.
And their lack of faith in the pair is perhaps underlined by reports they also tried to add Brondby’s Frederik Rønnow ahead of Wednesday’s transfer deadline.
The Eagles did however conclude three new signings during the January window, with defender Jarosław Jach, midfielder Erdal Rakip and striker Alexander Sørloth arriving from Zagłębie Lubin, Benfica and FC Midtjylland, respectively.
Will Palace rue not bringing in a new goalkeeper?
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