Tianjin prepared to meet Kalinic release clause

We all chuckled quietly to ourselves when Tianjin Quanjian offered €40 million for Nikola Kalinic. After all, the striker’s release clause is €50 million, and there’s no way the player would try to talk Fiorentina into selling him to China, far from the eyes of Croatia boss Ante Cacic and everything else familiar. But now we may need to revisit that reaction, because Tianjin is ready to trigger the clause.

Fresh off pipping Juventus to Axel Witsel, Tianjin are ready to make another big splash, and manager Fabio Cannavaro has convinced the board to raise their previous bid. Media outlets across Italy are reporting that the offer will probably arrive tomorrow morning, and could shift the course of the season.

While Kalinic has made it clear that he isn’t interested in a move to China, a massive payday could be enough to convince him otherwise. Pantaleo Corvino and the Viola management, for their part, are said to be very carefully considering the offer, and could well pull the trigger on it. Paulo Sousa, though, has named Kalinic as one of his untouchable players, so we could be at the beginning of a real power struggle.

Nothing’s official yet. Heck, the offer’s not in and nothing’s even happened yet. But the wheels are about to start turning, and could grind out a €50 million profit in short order.