Club and player both deny Jose Escalante signing with the New York Cosmos

On Monday, we heard reports that the New York Cosmos had all but completed the signing of Honduran youth international Jose Escalante. On Tuesday, both the club and player moved to deny those reports, following a bizarre scenario where Escalante himself seemed to confirm the move.

The 20-year old midfielder gave an interview on Tuesday in which he claimed that his agent had worked out a deal with the Cosmos, without actually meeting the player.

"My agent who lives in New York made contact. He has a good relationship with the people at the New York Cosmos and told them my situation. He sent my videos and they were able to watch me after after a few days. In the end, they accepted and said they wanted me on their team."

"The loan will be for one year, with an option to buy. I have a two-year contract with Olimpia."

Following that report, the club shot down the latest gossip, indicating that the two sides had never made any contact at all, with Escalante issuing the following via his Twitter account:

Gracias a todos por el apoyo quiero Negar la historia dicha ayer. No más especulaciones no eh firmado con los cosmos. Gracias a todos

— Jose Escalante (@joseescalante20) January 19, 2016

My guess here would be that this is simply an agent taking some liberties with the truth in order to keep his client happy, and hopefully put some pressure on Olimpia to get working on a deal. That's only a guess, but it's a real shame for the player that he's stuck in this situation, as continuing on in Honduras doesn't seem to be an option.

It will be interesting to see how this situation develops as the winter progresses.