Slavia Prague president Jaroslav Tvrdík has revealed that Peter Olayinka’s return to the club has been halted due to Red Star Belgrade’s decision to make a u-turn, Soccernet.ng reports.
Olayinka joined Red Star Belgrade from Slavia Prague last summer after five years in Czech Republic. The 28-year-old striker registered 50 goals and 26 assists in 183 appearances for Slavia Prague before his exit last summer.
At Red Star Belgrade, he was impressive, registering 12 goals and four assists in 43 games, helping them win the Serbian league and the Serbian Cup.
However, despite his success with the Serbian giants, news broke two weeks ago that Olayinka was keen on a return to Slavia Prague. It even looked like the deal was already sorted.
But recently, the talks have gotten cold as nothing concrete has come from Olayinka’s camp of the two clubs involved.
In a new development on tuesday, Slavia Prague president Jaroslav Tvrdík revealed the current status of the deal. He stated that Slavia Prague had already agreed on a deal with Red Star Belgrade, but the Serbian club made a u-turn and decided to increase their fee for Olayinka.
“In my nine years of working in football, I have not experienced a situation where the selling club officially confirmed the acceptance of the offer and later withdrew from this step,” Tvrdík said, per Infootball.
“The reasons are not important, relevant or vicarious. It’s not done. Considering the position of the parties involved in the negotiations, as well as the shift in time, we are no longer pursuing this transfer.”
With Tvrdík’s statements, it is unlikely that Olayinka will return to Slavia Prague this summer except there is a big change.