Yassine Meriah got on the verge of signing for Olympiacos, with the Reds reaching an agreement with the player, but the transfer was not completed.
Meriah came to Greece, negotiated successfully the medical tests and was ready to sign a three-year contract with Olympiacos, but an unexpected factor led to the failure of the deal.
Sfaxien, the club of the Tunisian defender, informed him that he cannot put pen on paper unless an agreement was reached on the financial aspect between the clubs.
At first the Tunisians asked for more money than originally agreed. Then they asked for the entire amount to be credited in the account of the African club to send the documents of the 25-year-old central defender’s release.
The Sfax-based club tried to put pressure on Olympiacos, using the proposal by Qatar’s Al-Duhail and asking for the cost of the transfer to reach up to 2.5 million euros.
Nabil Maaloul, who until recently was the manager of the Tunisian national team, is the new coach of the Qatari champions and is apparently eager to sign Meriah for his team.
Al-Duhail actually made an offer of 2.5 million euros to acquire him. Olympiacos, although they could match that amount, would not enter any further discussions.