He may have been, but he wasn’t going anywhere but England if he was moving from Stuttgart. He’s been steadfast about that.
EDIT: just looked, I didn’t see any other linked clubs except Fiorentina and Brighton.
The rest is a matter of perspective I suppose. Whether it could be considered a coup or risk.
Maybe I’m guilty of underestimating Brighton’s spending power. They obviously see something specific in him they love and want brought into their side. This transfer does set a new spending record for them, if I’m not mistaken.
All that said, they’re getting a quality player. He had injury concerns this year but when healthy he will contribute.
“Had their bid turned down”. Classic Ed Woodward. So, so classic.
If they buy him, it will be late in the window and he won’t get a real pre-season, like always !
Regarding Serdar signing for Hertha for €8M. IMO that is a relative coup. Serdar was brought to Schalke when Goretzka left and much was expected of him to fill that role. Maybe a bit too much expectation for a boy. He had a good season last year but this last season was horrific. But, it was like that for the entire club.
I was reading today that Schalke turned down an offer of €45M from West Ham for Serdar last year. I simply cannot wrap my head around that.
It feels like there might be something going on being the scenes. He kind of came up with Koke, but the former has always been treated like the favourite son, even during a period of 2-3 years in which Saul came back from loans and was considerably out performing him. He’s now had 1 season of supposedly less success and they’re ready to move him on, yet they stuck by Koke despite the interest in him when he wasnt making it into the side.
Real Madrid have confirmed that Sergio Ramos will leave the club this summer. I obviously loathe him but what a career he’s had, both with club and country.
Fikayo Tomori from Chelsea to Milan for £26.2m.
Wesley Hoedt from Southampton to Anderlecht on a permanent deal.
Leonardo Balerdi from Dortmund to Marseille for £9.9m.
Yerson Mosquera from Atletico Nacional to Wolves for £4.6m.
