Catalan claims over Fulham and David Lopez are really building.

On Thursday morning, we covered a story from Mundo Deportivo’s newspaper which claimed the Premier League club had made an offer but had it rejected by Espanyol.

Then the same newspaper published a new claim stating Fulham’s first offer had been €15m, which was immediately rejected, and they’d returned with a €20m offer, which was also rejected.

Espanyol’s stance was said to be the defender, who can also play in midfield, would only leave for his €40m release, a figure Fulham are unwilling to match.

Friday’s edition of Sport, another Catalan newspaper, backs up Fulham having made a €20m offer. Espanyol’s coaches are said to be keen to keep Lopez but are unsure whether that will actually happen.

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Chen Yansheng, Espanyol’s owner, will make the decision personally if Fulham return with a €30m offer.

The decision would possibly be yes, regardless of what Espanyol have been pushing to their local media. But €30m for David Lopez, who turns 29 years of age in October, seems an awful lot for Fulham.