Sporting CP have confirmed the signing of Issa Doumbia from Venezia, with the Portuguese champions paying a fixed fee of around 20 million euros, plus a further six million euros in add-ons, for the 22-year-old central midfielder. Sporting have moved quickly to protect their investment, inserting an 80 million euro release clause into his contract. The move was completed at the start of June, shortly after Venezia's season ended.
The fee represents an extraordinary return for Venezia, who signed Doumbia from lower-league side Albinoleffe for around 1 million euros back in 2024. His rise since then has been rapid: born in Lombardy to Ivorian heritage and capped by Italy at Under-21 level, he went from a virtual unknown to one of the most sought-after young midfielders in Italian football within two seasons.
Sporting's willingness to pay a premium fee reportedly saw off competition from five Serie A clubs — Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma and Atalanta all registered interest, but none matched the financial package Sporting put together. For a club that regularly develops and sells midfielders at a profit, landing a player of this profile before he even featured in Serie A shows how highly he is rated, and getting him early, and relatively cheaply compared to what a Serie A season might have commanded, looks a shrewd piece of business.
Venezia's loss is significant. Doumbia was central to a remarkable Serie B campaign that saw the club crowned champions with a record 82 points under head coach Giovanni Stroppa, sealing an immediate return to Serie A. Losing your best attacking midfielder just as you step back into the top flight is a considerable blow, even with the transfer fee to reinvest, and Venezia will need to find a replacement capable of carrying a similar goal threat from midfield.
Doumbia's numbers last season explain the fee. He contributed 10 goals and 6 assists in 38 appearances in Serie B and the Coppa Italia combined, racking up more than 3,000 league minutes with an average match rating above 7.3 — figures more typical of an attacking midfielder or forward than a conventional number eight. It was that direct goal involvement, on top of his passing range and ball-carrying, that turned heads across Italy and beyond.
At Sporting, he arrives as a long-term investment for head coach Rui Borges rather than a guaranteed starter from day one, joining a squad that already has established options in central midfield. His profile — a box-to-box player comfortable both creating and scoring — gives Sporting a different kind of option to rotate through their engine room, and there will be time for him to adapt to Portuguese football and the club's system before he is expected to be a regular starter.
Whether he settles quickly or needs a season to adjust, Sporting have signed a player whose underlying output last season was among the best of any midfielder in Serie B, and at 22 there is a clear path for him to grow into the fee.