Nice paid €30 million to sign Terem Moffi permanently in 2023. Porto now want to buy him for €8 million or less. The reason they can negotiate that deal is precisely because Nice no longer want him back.
FC Porto are working to make Terem Moffi’s move to the Estadio do Dragao permanent this summer, but they are not prepared to pay the full €8 million buy option written into his loan agreement with OGC Nice. The Portuguese club have opened discussions with Nice over the possibility of securing the Super Eagles striker at a reduced fee, according to Portuguese outlet A Bola via Bolanarede.
Porto’s leverage in those negotiations is simple. Nice have made it clear they do not want Moffi back. The 26-year-old Nigerian striker’s relationship with the Nice fanbase broke down completely after a 3-1 defeat to Lorient on November 30, 2025, during which he was subjected to racist abuse from his own supporters. When the club failed to defend him publicly, the situation became irreparable. By January 30, Moffi was on his way to Porto on loan.
Why Porto Signed Him in January
Porto’s pursuit of Moffi in the winter window was driven by necessity. The club had signed Luuk de Jong in the summer to partner Samu Aghehowa in attack, but the veteran Dutch striker suffered an ACL tear in November, just two months into his time at the club. When Aghehowa then suffered the same injury in February, Francisco Farioli’s squad was left with a genuine crisis at centre-forward.
Moffi arrived on January 30 as an emergency solution and has done the job asked of him. He has scored two goals and contributed one assist in 15 appearances across all competitions for Porto since joining. The numbers are modest but the context matters. He was brought in mid-season, inherited a starting role at a club in transition, and has been functional without being spectacular. Fans following his future at Porto can check the Bet9ja welcome offer ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Numbers Behind the Negotiation
The buy option in Moffi’s loan contract stands at €8 million, with an additional €250,000 in potential bonuses. Nice retain a 10 percent sell-on clause from any future transfer. Transfermarkt valued Moffi at €10 million as of December 2025, while Soccerway’s current estimate places him at €9.1 million.
Porto’s argument for a fee below €8 million is based on Moffi’s form at the club, the modest numbers he has produced since January, and the straightforward reality that Nice cannot realistically demand full market value for a player they are desperate to offload. Nice paid €30 million for Moffi when they triggered the obligation-to-buy from Lorient in 2023. They are now set to recoup a fraction of that figure regardless of how the Porto negotiation concludes. Those tracking the Nigerian transfer market this summer can find the latest odds at bet9japromotioncode.com.ng.
The Nice Fallout That Changed Everything
Moffi’s time at Nice ended not because of poor form but because of the failure of a club to stand behind one of its own players. The racist abuse he received from Nice supporters on November 30 was the turning point. He had scored 11 goals in the 2023/24 season, making him the club’s top scorer, and had every reason to expect the club to support him publicly when their own fanbase turned on him.
That support did not come clearly enough. The situation festered for two months before Porto provided the exit he needed. In that context, Moffi’s quiet performances in Portugal tell only part of the story. He arrived at Porto mid-season, carrying the emotional weight of a public falling-out and a club environment that had failed him. The fact he has contributed at all is a testament to his professionalism. Super Eagles fans hoping Eric Chelle has kept track of his situation can follow developments at this Bet9ja bonus code page ahead of the summer.
What Comes Next
Porto’s interest in keeping Moffi is genuine. The club has a vacancy at centre-forward following the ACL injuries to both de Jong and Aghehowa, and Moffi is familiar with the squad, the city, and Francisco Farioli’s system after five months at the club. A permanent deal at below €8 million would represent good value by any market measure for a centre-forward with his scoring record in Ligue 1.
Nice, having lost all leverage and with no desire to reintegrate Moffi into their squad, are expected to accept a reduced figure rather than bring him back to a hostile environment. How much below €8 million that figure ends up being is the only real question left in a transfer that appears increasingly likely to happen. At 26 and with 19 Nigeria caps to his name, Moffi staying at Porto and building consistency in the Liga Portugal could also revive his case for a more regular Super Eagles role heading toward the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 AFCON qualifying cycle.
📌 Did You Know?
- Moffi left Nigeria at the age of 17 to join the Buckswood Football Academy in Hastings, East Sussex, a school-based academy in southern England. He went on to play in Lithuania with Kauno Zalgiris and Riteriai before Belgian club KV Kortrijk signed him in January 2020, beginning his path to professional European football.
- Nice triggered an obligation-to-buy clause for Moffi worth €30 million from Lorient in June 2023, making him one of the most expensive Nigerian players to have moved within French football. That figure now represents a near-total write-off for Nice, who are set to sell him for €8 million or less just three years after paying that amount.
- Moffi scored 20 goals in 29 league games for Lithuanian club Riteriai, a return rate that immediately attracted interest from Belgian and French clubs. His ability to score consistently in a short period of time at Riteriai, despite having no prior professional European experience, was the quality that convinced Kortrijk and then Lorient to sign him.
- FC Porto are four-time UEFA Champions League winners, with their most recent title coming in 2004 under Jose Mourinho. That squad included Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, and a young Cristiano Ronaldo, and the club’s Champions League pedigree is part of what made them an attractive destination for Moffi in January despite the disruption of a mid-season loan move.
- Moffi’s racist abuse from Nice supporters on November 30, 2025 occurred in the context of a 3-1 defeat to Lorient, the club he played for before joining Nice. That historical connection added a particular bitterness to the occasion, and the failure of Nice to respond strongly on his behalf accelerated the breakdown of his relationship with the fanbase and, ultimately, the club.
- Samu Aghehowa, the Porto striker whose ACL injury in February 2026 created the vacancy that Moffi filled, is a Spanish-born forward of Nigerian descent who was born in Madrid. His injury timeline and Luuk de Jong’s ACL tear in November 2025 meant Porto lost two recognised senior strikers in the space of three months, making Moffi’s arrival a genuine sporting necessity rather than a speculative loan.
- Nice have a 10 percent sell-on clause written into any permanent transfer of Moffi from Porto. That clause means if Porto sell Moffi in the future for more than the fee they pay this summer, Nice will receive 10 percent of the profit. It is a small consolation for a club that paid €30 million for a player they are now effectively losing at a fraction of that price.
